


Star Trek Into Darkness Fanfic

by MisRedLotus



Category: Star Trek Into Darkness - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 21:18:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisRedLotus/pseuds/MisRedLotus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows Canon, I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE STAR TREK CHARACTERS. </p><p>This is again, the movie done in the perspective of a woman (Aria Kirk.) Instead of James Kirk. Please Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not everything is in here is from the movie, I've changed a few things, I've added a few things. So If you're reading and think "Hey, that wasn't in there..." You now know why :)

_If I wasn't so kind…_

_I probably wouldn't be in this situation…_

_If I wasn't so stubborn…_

_I STILL probably wouldn't be in this situation…_

_If I would just stop breaking the rules…_

_Aw hell, I'd be in this situation. Who the hell am I kidding?_

Aria stands cloaked from head to toe in gray fabric, she looks at the creatures around in this huge temple, bowing at a scroll with intricate markings all along the paper, humming and chanting.

_Remember, I have to distract them, I have to get them out of the temple so they're out of the danger zone…_

_"Captain, I don't understand what you're planning on doing here. We were sent to observe Nibiru. Though their fate is unfortunate, there is nothing we can do about it and to interfere with their destiny is highly illogical." Spock follows Aria through the hallways._

_" , first of all, I know that there is a way to stop the planet from being destroyed. Believe or not, I do actually listen to you when you speak and I know that you know. I am also aware that we have come to observe this planet, however, I firmly believe that this alien race doesn't need to be burnt to a crisp, so—" she stops and faces Spock, "Are you going to help me or not?"_

She stands there continuing to watch them bow in front of this scroll,  _I wonder… if maybe.. I wonder how mad they'll be if I just—_

Her decision turns into seconds as she hurries over to the scroll and pulls it off the stand and runs past the creatures into the blinding light, a little slit giving her small vision to work with. She hears the creatures yelling and screaming as she heads into forest filled with red trees. Aria holds tightly onto the scroll and continues to look behind her as she runs and sees the aliens following her.

_Well, that worked._

She stops abruptly and screams, seeing a huge creature roaring and flaying around, she pulls out her gun and stuns the creature. She calms herself seeing it fall down, till she see's Bones standing behind it, "Damn it, Ari! That was our ride!" he pulls off the cloth cover his face, "You just stunned our ride!"

Aria pulls the cloth down from her face, giving him an upset look, "Oh, great. Sorry love!"

She hears the creatures nearing them as one of them screams loudly, "Run!" she says quickly and runs with Bones through the forest, of red trees and dangling red vines. She runs jumping and trying to avoid the trees.

"What the hell did you take?" Bones yells sounding panicked.

"I have no idea but they were bowing to it!" she says in a hurry and pulls out her communicator, "Kirk to shuttle one, the locals are out of the kill zone. You are clear. Repeat." She runs holding tightly onto her communicator, "Spock, get in there, neutralize the volcano and let's get out of here!"

_"Captain, did the indigenous life forms see you?"_

Aria and Bones still run through the forest, "No, Mr. Spock, they did not."

_"The prime directive clearly states there can be no interference with the internal development of alien civilizations."_

"I know what it says! Which is why I'm running through the jungle wearing a disguise!" she looks behind her, seeing Bones and the aliens following close behind, "Now drop off your super ice cube and let's go! Kirk out!"

They continue through the forest and eventually, the sounds of spears fly past them. Most of them hitting the ground, "They're trying to kill us! They're trying to kill us, Ari!"

"I know sweetie!" She yells and feeling scared that one of the spears was going to hit her, or Bones.

Her communicator goes off,  _"Captain, I'm ditching the shuttle, You've got to make it to the Enterprise on your own."_

"Wonderful!" she hangs up her communicator as her legs begin to ache from all the running.

"Ari! Ari! The beach is that way!" she turns and see Bones pointing to the right.

"I know!" she takes the scroll and hangs it on a tree as she passes by, "We're not going to the beach!"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Bones yells in panic.

They continue to run as Aria sees the edge coming up quickly, "I hate this!" she hears Bones yell.

"I know you do!" she yells back as they near the edge, they both run and take a huge jump off the ledge and scream as they fall down and into the water. She hits the water and slips off her cloak letting it float in the water as they both swim back to the Enterprise.

They reach the hatch and swim in, the hatch locks tightly as the water begins to drain out of the room, Aria coughs for a moment, as the water levels off, "That was fun!"

Bones glares at her, "Don't ask me to come on a mission ever again. I'm a doctor, I belong on here."

"All righty, love." She walks over and kisses him deeply. He groans and wraps his arms around her waist, kissing her back.

The doors open and the sound of Scottys voice makes Aria jump. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous it is to hide a starship on the bottom of the ocean?" She turns to look at him, "We've been down here since last night! The salt waters gonna ruin the—"

Aria walks over to Scotty, "Scotty! Where's Spock?"

"Still in the Volcano, Ma'am." She hurries past Scotty and heads up to the bridge. She runs through the hallways with Bones and Scotty following close behind before running through the doors.

"Captain on the bridge!"

She runs over to the main controls and looks over at Uhura, who looks scared and worried, "Lieutenant, do we have an open channel to Mr. Spock?"

"The heat's frying his comms, but we stlll have contact."

Aria nods her head and hits the comm button, "Spock?"

_"I have activated the device, Captain. When the countdown is complete, the reaction should render the volcano inert."_

"Yeah, and that's gonna render him inert!" Aria looks over at Bones for a moment and then at Chekov, "Do we have use of the transporters?"

"Negative, Ma'am." Sulu says.

"Not with these magnetic fields." Chekov looks at her.

"I need to beam Spock back to the ship. Give me one way to do it." She continues to look at Chekov, hoping for an answer.

"Maybe if we had a direct line of sight. If we got closer—"

Scotty cuts him off, "Hold on, wee man! You're talking about an active volcano! Ma'am, if that thing erupts, I cannae guarantee we can withstand the heat!"

"I don't know that we can maintain that kind of altitude." She looks down at Sulu, and then over to Scotty, only hearing negative answers.

"We're getting Spock out of there."

_"Our shuttle was concealed in the ash cloud, but the Enterprise is too large. If utilized in a rescue effort, it would be revealed to the indigenous species."_

Aria hits the comm button again, "Spock, nobody knows the rules better than you, but there has got to be an exception." She could feel the fear creeping up on her, the fear that she would lose Spock.

" _None. Such action violates the Prime Directive."_

"Shut up, Spock! We're trying to save you, damn it!" Bones walks over to Aria.

_"Doctor, the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few."_

Aria starts to yell, "Spock, we're talking about your life!"

 _"The rule cannot be broken—"_ She panics as his comm cuts off completely.

"Spock!" Aria yells and pulls away from the controls, "Try to get him back online." She looks over at Uhura.

"Ninety seconds to detonations."

Aria stares at the window as Bones stands beside her, "If Spock were here and I were there, what would he do?"

"He'd let you die." She takes in his answer,  _It's what Spock would do, If I was there he would let me die. Then maybe it's best that we let him die… right?_

She looks over at Bones, "No, no we're going to save him. I'm not Spock, and I'm not letting him die. Mr. Sulu, raise the ship, we're going to that volcano!"

"Aye, Captain."

Aria stands with Bones, watching as they head towards the volcano, the timer showing only 8 seconds left.

Aria leaves the bridge and heads down to the transporter room with Bones following behind, "Spock!" she yells as she runs in the room and sees him standing there smoking hot. She runs up to him looking happy "You all right?"

Spock looks down at them, "Captain, you let them see our ship."

Bones groans in annoyance, "He's fine!" Aria nods her head, sort of smiling, though it's not turning out to be a good smile.

 _"Bridge to captain Kirk."_ Uhura sounds upset.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

_"Is Commander Spock on board, Ma'am."_

"Safely and soundly."

_"Please notify him that his device has successfully detonated."_

Aria looks at Spock, "You hear that? Congratulations Spock. You just saved the world."

"You violated the Prime Directive." Aria tries not to smile at him hearing his tone of voice.

"Oh, come on, Spock. They saw us. Big deal." She shrugs her shoulders and leaves the Transporter room to head back up to the Bridge as they head back to earth.


	2. Chapter 2

Aria slides her hands slowly up Bone's chest, as she pops up from underneath the covers, "Mm, you're so handsome." She bites her bottom lip playfully and kisses up his stomach.

"And you're so beautiful." His right hand slides along her hair, his fingers raking through her curls.

She smiles and straddles his hips and looks down at him, "This is nice." His right hand slides along her cheek and down her neck.

She smiles and arches her head to the side, moaning softly, "Yes it is, Bones." she grabs his hand and playfully bites his index finger, "Such a shame I can't keep you in bed all the time."

"Why's that?"

"You're much nicer and romantic in bed."

"I think I'm pretty nice outside of bed." he gives her a funny look.

She shakes her head and bends down, resting her breasts against his chest, "Now see, that's a matter of opinion."

"Oh really?" he says and she squeals as Bones flips her onto her back. His tongue runs along her neck, and his teeth nip and tease at the skin.

"Bones..." she moans out softly as she feels his arousal pressing against her, his hands slide along her sides before grabbing her hips and pushing himself inside her. She gasps and wraps her legs around his waist, her arms wrapping around his neck and pulling him close, kissing him roughly.

Then the sound of her communicator goes off, she groans but Bones continues thrusting against her as his fingers dig into her skin, "Don't—you-dare—"

"But—I—" she gasps, and slides her hand through his hair and lightly tugs on it.

He moans softly against her mouth, the communicator continuing to beep in the background, "Damn it-Bones—"

He stops and looks down at her, "Alright." He moves and lays on his back and she hurries over to her communicator and picks it up.

"Yeah?"

"Kirk, I'd like to see you in my office, tomorrow morning to discuss a few things."

She smiles feeling a little excited, "Of course. Goodnight, sir." She hangs up her communicator and walks back over to the bed, "See that wasn't so bad, was it?" she reaches down and pulls the blanket off his body slowly, she smiles seeing he's still aroused. She throws the blanket off, crawls onto the bed and straddles him.

He places his hands on her hips and groans feeling her warm sex pressing against his arousal, "Just, relax love…this is what you get for waiting." She smiles and bends down to kiss him deeply.

The next morning Aria wakes to an empty bed and a note, she smiles at it and quickly gets out of bed and dressed and heads out to meet Spock. She walks with Spock along the academy grounds, "Spock, I'm telling you, this is why he called. I can feel it." She holds onto her hat as they walk.

"Your feeling aside, I consider it highly unlikely that we will be selected for the new program."

Aria considers this for a moment, "Why else would Pike want to see us? Forget about seniority. They gave us the newest ship in the fleet. I mean who else are they gonna send out?"

They continue to walk to the building, "I can think of numerous possibilities."

She turns around, "A five year mission, Spock!" she pats his shoulder hard and excitedly. "That's deep space. That's uncharted territory. Think how incredible that's gonna be." They walk into the building and up to Pike's office. She holds her hat at her side and stands straight as Pike looks over the report from their latest mission.

"Uneventful"

"Admiral?" She questions.

"It's the way you described the survey of the Nibiru in your captain's log." He places the PADD down onto his desk and looks up at her, "Yes, sir, I didn't want to waste your time going over the details—"

Pike cuts her off, "Yeah, tell me more about this volcano. Data says it was highly volatile. If it were to erupt, it would wipe out the planet."

"Let's hope it doesn't, sir." She stands straight looking ahead of her.

"Something tells me it won't." He looks annoyed at her, but she continues to keep a straight face.

"Well, sir, volatile is all relative. Maybe our data was off."

"Or maybe it didn't erupt because Mr. Spock detonated a cold fusion device inside it right after a civilization that's barely invented the wheel happened to see a starship rising out of their ocean!" She stands still not trying to look at him, Pike looks over at Spock, "That is pretty much how you describe it, is it not?"

"Admiral—"

She looks over at Spock, "You filed a report? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I incorrectly assumed that you would be truthful in your captain's log."

"Yeah, I would have been if I didn't have to save your life."

"A fact for which I am immeasurably grateful and the very reason I felt it necessary to take responsibilities for the actions—"

She cuts him off, "Take responsibility, yeah. That'd be so noble, pointy, if you weren't also throwing me under the bus."

Spock gives her a look, "Pointy? Is that a derogatory reference to—"

"Enough." Pike stands up quickly, with his cane in his right hand and begins to walk, "Starfleet's mandate is to explore and observe, not to interfere."

"Had the mission gone according to plan, Admiral, the indigenous species would never have been aware of our interference."

Pike walks over to them, "That's a technicality."

"I am a Vulcan, sir. We embrace technicality."

"Are you giving me attitude, Spock?"

"I'm expressing multiple attitudes simultaneously, sir. To which are you referring?"

"Out." He sounds annoyed, "You're dismissed, Commander." Spock looks over at Aria for a moment before turning and leaving her alone with Pike, "You have any idea what a pain in the ass you are?"

"I think so, sir."

"So tell me what you did wrong. What's the lesson to be learned here?"

"Never trust a Vulcan." She was beyond pissed off.

"Now, see, you can't even answer the question." He walks over to her, "You lied. On an official report, you lied. You think the rules don't apply to you 'cause you disagree with them."

"That's why you talked me into signing up in the first place. It's why you gave me your ship." She looks over at him for a moment before looking away.

"I gave you my ship because I saw greatness in you." She doesn't say anything, not sure she can say anything, "And now, I see you haven't got an ounce of humility."

She turns to face Pike, "What was I supposed to do, let Spock die?"

"You're missing the point."

"I don't think I am, sir. What would you have done?"

"I wouldn't have risked my first officer's life in the first place! You were supposed to survey a planet, not alter its destiny! You violated a dozen Starfleet regulations and almost got everyone under your command killed."

"Except I didn't! You know how many crew members I've lost? Not one!"

Pike raises his voice, "That's your problem, you think you're infallible! You think you can't make a mistake. It's a pattern with you! The rules are for other people!"

"Some should be."

"And what's worse is you using blind luck to justify your playing God!" She looks at him silently and then looks down to the ground, "Given the circumstances, this has been brought to Admiral Marcus's attention. He convened a special, tribunal to which I was not invited. You understand what Starfleet regulations mandate be done at this point." A realization dawns over her face as she looks at him and Pike is silent for a few moments, "They've taken the Enterprise away from you. They're sending you back to the academy."

She could feel her emotions pushing at her, "Admiral, listen—"

"No, I'm not going to listen—"

"I can justify—"

"Why should I listen? I'm not going to listen. You don't listen to anybody but yourself!"

"I understand regulation but every decision I've made—" She had to try and convince him, she just had too.

"No! I can't listen! You don't comply with the rules, you don't take responsibility for anything, and you don't respect the chair. You know why? Because you're not ready for it." She stands there in silence not sure of what to say.

"You're dismissed." She turns and heads out the door.

Aria hurries back to her room and walks through the doors. She yells in anger and throws her hat as a few tears slide down her face, she shuts her eyes tightly and wipes her eyes roughly, leaving little red patches under her cheeks.

"Fuck." she walks over to her closet and throws on her jeans and a white shirt. She grabs her jacket and leaves the school grounds.


	3. Chapter 3

She sits at the bar, "Another scotch." She holds up her drink, as the bartender throws an ice cube in and pours the scotch handing it over to her and leaving the bottle in front of her. She smiles slightly and shoots back her drink, she looks over seeing a very handsome man sitting just a few feet away from her. She smiles and looks away before looking back at him. She leans over to speak when Pike appears between them, she groans and sits upright hunched over again, "How did you find me?"

"I know you better than you think I do." He pauses to order a drink, "The first time I found you was in a dive like this." Aria doesn't look at him, "Remember that? You got your ass handed to you."

She shakes her head a little, "No, I didn't."

"You don't?"

"No, that's not what happened."

"That was an epic beating."

"No, it wasn't." he was beginning to annoy her.

"You had napkins hanging out of your nose." She smiles and softly laughs looking at her empty drink and finding it hard to be mad at Pike, "Did you not?"

"Yeah, that was a good fight." She moves her head up and looks ahead of her.

"A good fight." They sit in silence for a few seconds, "I think that's your problem right there." Aria gives in and turns to look at Pike, who's looking at her, "They gave her back to me. The Enterprise."

She stares at Pike for a minute and then turns her head down, "Congratulations." She looks back at him and grabs the bottle of scotch pouring another shot, "Watch your back with that first officer, though." She picks up her glass to drink.

"Spock's not going to be working with me. He's been transferred."

She stops only taking a sip.

"U.S.S Bradbury."

She places her glass back down.

"You're going to be my first officer." She looks over at Pike, not sure she's hearing the words correctly, "Yeah, Marcus took some convincing. But every now and then I can make a good case."

She blinks at him, "Wh-What did you tell him?"

"The truth. That I believe in you. That if anybody deserves a second chance, it's Aria Kirk."

She looks away from him, in the fear that she's going to cry. She blinks her eyes quickly and turns to look back at Pike, "I don't know what to say."

Pike smiles at her response, "That is a first." She smiles at him, "It's gonna be okay, hon."

The sound of Pikes communicator goes off and he pulls it out and looks at it, "Emergency session, Daystrom." She looks at Pike with a concerned look on her face, "That's us."

"Yeah." She says quietly.

_Pike has done so much for me… I can't even begin to thank him. He made me first officer (even after what I did) he did that for me. I don't know what I would do without him._

"Suit up." Pike says before standing up and leaving the bar with Aria following shortly after.

She walks into Starfleet HQ while fixing the top of her uniform, " _All Starfleet personnel; please be advised, new security protocols are in effect."_

"Captain." She hears Spock's voice and continues forward.

"Not anymore, Spock. First Officer." She walks over to the elevator with Spock following behind, she hits the button and the doors close, "I was demoted and you were reassigned."

"It is fortunate that the consequences were not more severe."

She sighs and shakes her head, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Captain, it was never my intention—"

"Not Captain." She turns to look at him, "I saved your life, Spock. You wrote a report, I lost my ship." They reach the top floor and she walks out feeling frustrated and annoyed as she hurries to get away from him.

"Commander, I see now I should have alerted you to the fact that I submitted the report."

"No, I'm familiar with your compulsion to follow the rules. But you see I can't do that." She stops and looks at him, "Where I come from, if someone saves your life, you don't stab them in the back."

"Vulcans cannot lie."

"Then I'm talking to the half-human part of you. All right? Do you understand why I went back for you?"

A man cuts her off, "Commander Spock? Frank Abbot, U.S.S Bradbury. Guess you're with me."

Spock looks over at Aria for a moment before back at Abbot, "Yes, Captain." Abbot nods and walks away leaving the both of them alone.

She watches as he walks away before looking back at Spock, "The truth is…" she pauses, "I'm going to miss you." She smiles lightly. Spock gives her a look and goes to speak, but doesn't say anything. She waits hoping he would have something to say, but then her smile disappears and groans in annoyance as she walks away from him towards the meeting room.

Aria stands beside Pike in the meeting room, with all the first officers and Captain's standing around the table, "Thank you for convening on such short notice. Be seated." Admiral Marcus says as everyone sits down including him.

"By now, some of you have heard what happened in London. The target was a Starfleet data archive. Now it's a damned hole in the ground, 42 men and women are dead."

Aria listens feeling a little confused and looks up,  _Wait, an Data archive? There would be no point…_

"One hour ago, I received a message from a Starfleet officer who confessed to carrying out this attack, that he was being forced to do it by this man, Commander John Harrison. He's one of our own."

Aria looks down at the screen seeing this picture of this man, and begins looking at the pictures during the time after the explosion, something in her gut not feeling right.

"And he is the man responsible for this act of savagery. For reasons unknown, John Harrison has just declared a one-man war against Starfleet. And under no circumstances are we to allow this man to escape federation space. You here tonight represent the senior command of all the vessels in the region. And in the name of those we lost, you will run this bastard down." She continues to look at her screen, looking at this man, wondering, it was all too weird.  _But, it was just an archive, that's nothing, it's nothing to Starfleet, we didn't lose anything._

Admiral Marcus continues, "This is a manhunt, pure and simple, so let's get to work. Earth's perimeter sensors have not detected any warp signatures leaving the system, so we know he can't be far."

Aria touches the screen and zooms in on the scene, "You will park your ships in a blockade formation then deploy search vehicles and landing parties to run down every lead. This man has shown willingness to kill innocent people, so the rules of engagement are simple."

She zooms in on a still of John Harrison, "If you come across this man and fear for your life or the lives of those nearby. You are authorized to use deadly for on sight." And then she zooms in on what John Harrison is grabbing out of the back seat of a vehicle. She turns and whispers to Pike, "What's in the bag?"

"Aria, not now."

"It doesn't seem odd to you that he'd target an archive? It's like bombing a library."

Admiral Marcus speaks up, "Chris? Everything okay there?"

Pike looks over at Marcus, "Yes, sir. Ms. Kirk is just acclimating to her new position as first officer." She looks at Pike before looking at Marcus.

"You got something to say, Kirk, say it. Tomorrow's too late."

She considers saying it, but then backs down, "I'm fine, sir. My apologies." She rests back in her chair.

"Spit it out, hon. Don't be shy."

She finally caves, "Why the archive? She motions to her screen, "All that information is public record. If he really wanted to damage Starfleet." She pauses for a moment, "This could just be the beginning." She looks at her screen, an uneasy feeling sitting over her.

"The beginning of what, Ms. Kirk?"

"Sir, in the event of an attack, protocol mandates that senior command gathers captains and first officers at Starfleet H.Q., right here." She pauses now realizing, "In this room…"

Spock begins to speak, "It is curious Harrison would commandeer a jumpship without warp capabilities—"

A red glow begins to fill the room as Aria turns to look behind her. She stands up quickly seeing lights flood the meeting room,  _He's going to kill us all…_  she turns around and faces the table, "Clear the room!" she yells and ducks as the gunfire breaks through the glass, she runs jumping over the table and laying low on the ground. She could hear the sound of everyone panicking and the sounds of people screaming. Looking around, a few people fall down from being shot, she pushes herself up quickly and runs through the room avoiding the gunshots, as she nears the hallway she picks up the gun lying on the ground she passes a few guards and hides behind one of the pillars and peeks out the window seeing an airship, blasting away.

_You can do it, do it Aria!_

She takes a deep breath and moves in front of the window taking a shot and breaking it, she covers her face for a moment and then continues to shoot at the airship, firing as many shots as she can. But after a few it doesn't seem to be doing anything, till she see's the engine, sucking in air.

_That's it!_

She turns behind and runs over to the wall, and hits the buttons hard opening an emergency station, and grabs onto the hose pulling it out as quick as she can. She runs and slides onto the ground to pick up the gun and begins to wrap the hose around it and tying it tightly she picks it up and throws it at the ship. It hits the engine and gets sucked in and the ship starts to make noise. She smiles slightly before hearing the noise of the hose going faster and faster and turns to look at the unit in the wall and then back at the ship, before looking back again as the unit pulls, breaking the wall and flying out. She ducks at it zooms past her and smashes into the ship. The ship beings to making a noise before it's engines burst and explode, Aria stands looking at the ship as it spins and falls apart, she looks seeing John Harrison looking at her as his body begins to light up and then disappear from the ship. It crashes into the side of the building before falling down in pieces towards the ground.

She stands there for a few moments, "Pike." She says quietly and turns down the hallway to find him. She hurries around the corner and finds Spock kneeling beside Pike, her heart stops seeing Pike laying there.

_No… Please no…_

She walks over to him, her expression in shock as she kneels down near Spock and looks at him for a moment before placing her hand on Pikes neck to find a pulse. Her eyes begin to tear up and her face begins to crunch in pain as she looks down at Pike's lifeless body, tears falling from her face. She rests her face on his chest and begins to sob, her hand clenching tightly onto his shoulder. She lays there for a few moments, crying into his chest, and then she moves herself up and looks at him. She continues to cry, her heart breaking at this sight.

_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Pike, for everything. Just please… Please don't let this be happening right now… I'll do anything._

Aria takes a few breathes before calming herself down and pulling away from him. She stands up and places her hand on Spock's shoulder for a moment before walking over to the open window and looking down. The debris blowing through the window and pushing her brown curly hair back. She wipes her eyes and stares at the bottom of the building, the sound of sirens echo through the city.

_There's no way he's dead… And I'm going to find him. If it's the last thing I do._

Aria heads back to the academy alone, her eyes and body hurting as she walks slowly and more tears fall as she walks. When she reaches the school grounds she stops for a moment and rests her face in her hands and begins to cry again as she falls onto the ground, her knees hitting hard. The school grounds are empty and quiet, only the sound of her sobs echo through the grounds, "W-why-" she says blubbering out into the darkness.

"Why!?" she screams as if expecting a reply but only her echo answers her back. She pulls her hands away from her face and hugs her body tightly, her voice hurting and cracking as she cries.

 _"I believe in you, Ari."_  She hears Pikes voice echo in her mind.

Her hands shake as she reaches in to grab her communicator, she flips it open to call someone, and a groggy voice sounds over the communicator, "Hello?"

"Bones-" her voice whispers full of sadness.

"Ari, where are you?" he sounds more awake and she begins to hear him shuffling around.

"I-I'm outside."

"Where?"

"On the academy grounds."

"Stay there. I'll be right there." he goes to hang up.

"Wait! Don't leave me alone-Please I-" she begins to sob holding tightly onto her communicator. She hears the sound of Bones running over the comm, she stays on the ground shaking and feeling cold.

After what seems like an eternity, "Ari!" Bones says as he kneels down on the ground and embraces her tightly, she clings onto him and her whole body shakes as she cries into his chest.

"P-Pike is dead..." she says with a weak voice.

"What-" Bones cups her face and holds her at arm's length.

"Starfleet HQ got attacked and he-" she covers her face with her hands again, "He was like a father to me, I joined Starfleet because of him-and now-he's-" her voice cut off as her breathing got worse, tears staining her face.

"It'll be okay," Bones squeezes his arms around her, trying to comfort her. He stays with her on the ground, rocking her slowly and kissing her forehead as she sobs into his chest, "I promise, it'll be okay Ari." She clings onto him tightly as they sit on the cold ground outside. 

"Why couldn't it have been me?" Her voice whispers.

Bones grabs her face and rubs his thumbs along her cheeks, before kissing her deeply, "Then I wouldn't have you." He whispers against her lips. 

They both stare out into the darkness and listen as the sound of sirens echo through the city. After a long while of sitting in the cold, Bones pulls up Aria and holds her close as they walk back towards the academy.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning she sits in her room, staring blankly at the wall unsure of what she should be doing, when the sound of her communicator goes off, she reaches over and grabs it, "Yeah?"

"Commander, Mr. Scott has found something in the wreckage of Harrison's ship. He has asked to see us right away." Her eyes widen and she hurries out of her room to meet up with Spock and Scotty.

Aria and Spock both run in the court yard as they see Scotty hurrying over, "Captain! I found this in the crashed jumpship, Ma'am." Scotty is holding some sort of device, "This is how the bastard got away."

"What do you mean?" Aria looks down at the device.

"It's a portable transwarp beaming device."

She looks at Scotty, "Well can you figure out where he went?"

"I already did, Ma'am. And you're not gonna like it." Scotty presses a button bringing up the coordinates and looks down at them, "He's gone to the place we… We just can't go."

She hands the device back over to Scotty and heads with Spock to the Admiral Demaro Hall to find Admiral Marcus.

They hurry into his office as he's speaking with the other Senior Officers, "Admiral, sir, he's not on Earth." She runs up to Marcus, "He's on Kronos, sir. I request my command be reinstated and your permission to go after him."

Marcus looks at her for a moment before turning to the group of men sitting around the table, "Give us a minute." The men begin to leave and Marcus walks by her and Spock, "Kronos?"

"Yes, sir." she says and follows Marcus.

"So Harrison's gone to the Klingon home world. Is he defecting?"

"We're not sure, sir."

Spock speaks up, "He has taken refuge in the Ketha Province, a region uninhabited for decades—"

Aria cuts Spock off, "He's gotta be hiding there, sir! He knows if we go anywhere near Klingon space it'd be all-out war. Starfleet can't go after him, but I can. Please, sir." Marcus looks over at her before turning to look at the model of the vessels along the counter.

"All-out war with the Klingons is inevitable, Ms. Kirk. If you ask me, it's already begun. Since we first learned of their existence, the Klingon Empire has conquered and occupied two planets that we know of and fired on our ships half a dozen times. They are coming our way." Aria watches as he walks along looking at the models before turning to look at them, "London was not an archive. It was a top secret branch of Starfleet designated Section 31."

Aria and Spock both walk over to Marcus's desk as he sits down, "They were developing defense technology and training our officers to gather intelligence on the Klingons and any other potential enemy who means to do us harm. Harrison was one of our top agents."

Anger courses through her as she listens, "Well, now he's a fugitive and I want to take him out."

Marcus stands up, "Pike always said you were on of our best and brightest." The pain hits her heart again hard, but she keeps her composure, knowing that she cannot cry anymore, "You should have heard him defend you."

She looks down at the ground for a moment, "He's the one who talked you into joining Starfleet, wasn't he?"

She looks back at Marcus, "Yes, sir."

"Did he ever tell you who talked him into joining?" She looks at Marcus, as he sighs, "His death is on me. And yours can't be."

_I'm going after him if it's the last thing I do…_

"Sir, please. All I—" Marcus cuts her off.

"Mr. Spock, you said the province where Harrison is hiding is uninhabited?"

"Affirmative, sir."

Marcus stands there for a few moments thinking before he walks in front of his desk. "As a part of our defensive strategy, 31 developed a new photon torpedo." He presses a few buttons on his monitor before a holograph of a torpedo shows above his desk, Aria and Spock look at the image.

"Long range and untraceable, it would be invisible to Klingon sensors. I don't want you hurt, but I want to take him out." He looks at Aria, "You park on the edge of the Neutral Zone, you lock onto Harrison's position, you fire, you kill him and you haul ass."

_Good._

She motions towards Spock, "Permission to reinstate Mr. Spock as my First Officer."

Marcus looks over at Spock before looking back at Aria, "Granted."

They both head out of Admiral Marcus's office and Aria hurries down the hallway, "I'm going to head to my quarters for a moment and then I'll meet you at the Shuttle Port." She goes to walk away when Spock grabs onto her arm.

"Captain, you are in high tension of what occurred the evening before. I do not think it's wise that you try and take control of the Enterprise."

She rolls her eyes, "Spock, if you had a problem with me why didn't you say anything back there?"

"After the incident of filing a proper Captain's Log, I would prefer not to be lectured by you again. "

She pats his shoulder, "Well, I'm glad you can learn, Spock. Now, I'll see you in a few minutes."

Aria walks through the shuttle port, heading to the shuttle to go to the Enterprise, "Ari!" she hears Bones and turns to see him hurry over towards her, she continues to walk with him beside her, "Where were you?"

"For what?"

"Your medical exam. Ten hours ago, you were in a damn firefight. Now it's my duty as ship's—"

She stops to face him, "I'm fine, Bones."

"The hell you are." He leans in close to her, his voice harsh, but only filled with concern for her.

"I'm fine." Her eyes are blank as she looks at him and she leans over kissing him softly on the lips, she goes to move but his hand holds tightly onto her arm.

"Ari—"

"I'm fine, Bones. Really."

"You're not, and it's gonna take more than your words to convince me otherwise."

She moves close to him and leans against his chest, "Then tell me… What will it take?"

He pushes away from her, "Nothing."

She looks at him for a moment before moving past him and walking inside to take a seat down near Spock, "Status report, Mr. Spock." She begins to buckle herself in.

"The Enterprise should be ready for launch by the time we arrive."

"Good. Good."

"Captain." She looks over at Spock, "Thank you requesting my reinstatement."

"You're welcome." She smiles a little, and sees Bones from the corner of her eye.

"As I am again your first Officer, it is now my duty to strongly object to our mission parameters."

"Of course it is." She smiles out of annoyance.

"There is no Starfleet regulation that condemns a man to die without a trial." She looks up, her sadness and anger flowing beneath the surface,  _Trial? That man murdered in cold blood. He deserves death._ "Something you and Admiral Marcus are forgetting. Also, pre-emptively firing torpedoes at the Klingon homeworld goes against—"

"You yourself said the area's uninhabited. There's only gonna be one casualty. And in case you weren't listening, our orders have nothing to do with Starfleet regulation."

Bones cuts into the conversation, "Wait a minute. We're firing torpedoes at the Klingons?"

"Regulations aside, this action is morally wrong."

_That's it!_

"Regulations aside, pulling your ass out of a volcano was morally right. And I didn't win any points for that." She looks down at the PADD.

"Whoa, Ari, calm down."

"I'm not gonna take ethics lessons from a robot!" her emotions were beginning to show through.

"Reverting to name calling suggests that you are defensive and therefore find my opinion valid."

"I wasn't asking for your opinion." She feels something pressed against her face, "Bones, I love you, but get that thing off my face." he pulls away.

"Captain, our mission could start a war with the Klingons and it is, by its very definition, immoral. Perhaps you should take the requisite time to arrive at this conclusion for yourself."

"Captain Kirk." She looks up and sees a woman with short blonde hair. "Science officer Wallace. I've been assigned to the Enterprise by Admiral Marcus. These are my transfer orders." She hands the PADD over to Aria and grabs onto them.

"You requested an additional science officer, Captain?"

"I wish I had." Aria looks over at Spock and then down at the PADD, "Lieutenant Carol Wallace. Doctorate in applied physics specializing in advanced weaponry."

"Impressive credentials."

"Thank you." Carol says looking over at Spock.

"But redundant now that I am back aboard the Enterprise."

"And yet the more the merrier." She looks over at Spock and then back at Carol, "Have a seat, Doctor."

"Thank you." Carol says and sits down between Spock and Aria.

_"Shuttle crew, stand by for lift-off."_

The shuttle begins to move as they lift and fly up out of Sans Francisco and out of earth's atmosphere to the space station. Aria turns her head for a moment to look at Bones who doesn't look too happy. She extends her hand back and he grabs onto it, giving it a small squeeze and then letting it go.

They reach the docking bay of the Enterprise and get off the shuttle, Aria walks with Spock and Bones, as they hear Scotty in the distance, "No! I'm not signing anything! Now get these bloody things off my ship! Captain!"

"Is there a problem, Mr. Scott?" She walks over to Scotty.

"Aye, Ma'am. I was just explaining to this gentleman that I cannae authorize any weapons on board this ship without knowing what's inside them."

"Mr. Scott raises yet another point—"

Aria turns to look at Spock and hands over the PADD, "Report to the bridge."

"Captain." Spock grabs onto it and leaves.

"Mr. Scott, I understand your concerns, but we need these torpedoes on board."

"Due respect, ma'am, but photon torpedoes run on fuel. Now, I cannae detect the type of fuel that's in the compartments on these torpedoes because it's shielded. Now, I asked for the specifications, but he said—" Scotty points to the guy behind him.

"It's classified." The guy says.

"It's classified. So I said, 'No specs, no signature!'"

"Captain." They all look up seeing Sulu, "Flight checks complete. We're good to go, ma'am."

"Thank you, Mr. Sulu."

"Yes, ma'am."

Aria looks back at Scotty, "Now, if you'll excuse me, ma'am, I have a warp core to prime." He walks away and sees his alien friend sitting on one of the torpedoes, "Get down!"

"Ari, your vitals are way off."

She turns to look at Bones, "Report to the med bay. Scotty!" she says and chases after him, "I need you to approve those weapons."

"Do you know what this is, Captain?" Scotty points to the warp core and she looks.

"I don't have time for a lecture, Scotty."

"Do you know what this is?" his voice is more strained.

"It's a warp core." They stop in front of it.

"It's a radioactive catastrophe waiting to happen. A subtle shift in magnetic output from say, firing one or more of six dozen torpedoes with an unknown payload could set off a chain reaction which would kill every living thing on this ship." She looks at Scotty, her emotions burning, she needs those torpedoes on the ship, and without them she isn't able to kill the man that took away the very person who gave her everything.

"Letting those torpedoes on board the Enterprise is the last straw!"

"What was the first straw?" her voice is firm but angry.

He begins to raise his voice at her, "What was the—There are plenty of straws. How about Starfleet confiscating my trans-warp equation? And now some madman's using it to hop across the galaxy! Where do you think he got it from?"

"We have our orders, Scotty!"

"That's what scares me. This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? 'Cause I thought we were explorers."

"Sign for the torpedoes, that's an order." She looks at Scotty angry and full of sadness.

"Right, well, you leave me no choice but to resign my duties."

_What—no-_

"Come on, Scotty."

"You're giving me no choice, ma'am. I will not stand by—"

"You're not giving me much choice—"

"Will you just make an exception and sign—"

"Do you accept my resignation or not?"

Finally her emotions got the better of her, "I do!" she yells. Scotty looks completely torn apart at her agreeing to take his resignation, "I do." She says calmer, "You are relieved, Mr. Scott."

He looks at her, nodding his head and trying not to show how much it was tearing him apart. Aria looks away from him, but he walks close to her, "Ari, for the love of God, do not use those torpedoes." He pulls away and hands her his PADD before turning and leaving.

_Attention. Warp core anti-matter containment check in three minutes._

Aria stands there for a few moments,  _I did the right thing… didn't I? I mean he OFFERED his resignation… and he wouldn't sign for the torpedoes so… Why don't I feel so great?_

"Captain! I'm so sorry about Admiral Pike." She walks with Uhura.

"We all are."

"Are you okay?"

She looks at Uhura for a second, "Fine, thank you, Lieutenant." They head to the elevator heading up to the bridge.

Aria sighs contemplating on actually saying anything, "Actually, Scotty just quit." Uhura doesn't say anything but looks over, "And your boyfriend's second-guessing me every chance he gets." She looks over at Uhura feeling awkward for a moment, "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate. It's just sometimes I want to rip the bangs off his head." She hears Uhura sigh, "You know, maybe it's me. I—"

"It's not you." Uhura cuts her off and Aria looks at her.

"It's not?" She looks seeing Uhura's unhappy expression, then she clues in.

"Wait, are you guys—Are you guys fighting?" she turns to looking at Uhura.

She faces Aria, "I'd rather not talk about it, ma'am."

"Oh, my God! What is that even like?" the elevator doors open causing them to stop talking as they see Spock standing there, Uhura walks out and passes him, giving him the dirtiest look. Aria walks out and says to Spock, "Your ears burning?"

"Captain on the bridge!"

"Captain." Sulu says as Aria walks over to the main controls to talk to Chekov and leans over talking to him quietly, "Mr. Chekov. You've been shadowing Mr. Scott. You are familiar with the engineering systems of this ship?"

"Affirmative, ma'am."

"Good. You're my new Chief, go put on a red shirt." she smiles slightly and pats his shoulder before walking over to the Captain's chair, "Retract all moorings, Mr. Sulu."

"Yes, ma'am."

She looks out the window watching as they move away from the station, "Lieutenant Uhura, open a shipwide channel."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Mr. Chekov, how we looking down there?" she sits waiting for a reply.

_"All systems nominal, Captain."_

"Copy that."

_"Warp available at your command."_

"Thank you, Mr. Chekov." Aria looks over at Sulu, "All right. Let's ride."

He looks over at her, "Yes, ma'am." And puts the ship into warp speed.

Aria sits in the captain's chair, waiting for Uhura to give the okay for an open channel.

"Channel open, ma'am."

She nods her head at her and then begins to speak, "Attention, crew of the Enterprise. As most of you know, Christopher Pike former captain of this ship and our friend, is dead." the word hits her hard, but her emotions stay in check, "The man who has killed him had fled our system and is hiding on the Klingon homeworld, somewhere he believes we are unwilling to go. We are on our way there now. Per Admiral Marcus, it is essential that our presence go undetected. Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been high. Any provocation could lead to an all-out war." She goes silent thinking and then turns to look at Spock for a few moments.

_He's right, I hate to admit it, that pointy eared bastard is right… Great…_

"I will personally lead a landing party to an abandoned city on the surface of Kronos where we will capture the fugitive, John Harrison, and return him to Earth so he can face judgement for his actions."

_This is the right thing to do, and you know it is..._

"All right. Let's go get this son of a bitch. Kirk out." She ends the channel and sits there as Spock walks over to her.

"Captain, I believe you have made the right decision. If I can be of assistance, I would be happy to accompany you on the away team."

She looks up at Spock, "You? Happy?"

"I was simply attempting to use your vernacular to convey an idea."

She smiles, "Thank you, Mr. Spock."

She sits there for a while, thinking and wondering if she was making the right choice, when suddenly the ship jolts out of warp throwing Aria from her chair and onto the floor. She groans as Bones helps her stands up, "You alright?"

"Yes, love." She walks over to Sulu.

"What the hell—"

"Engineering manually dropped us out of warp, ma'am."

She hits the comm button, "Mr. Chekov, did you break my ship?"

_"Sorry, ma'am, I don't know what happened! The core overheated. I had to activate the emergency stop. It must be a coolant leak. I need time to find it. Sorry, Captain."_

"Damn it." She looks over at Sulu, "Mr. Sulu, time to our destination."

"Twenty minutes, ma'am. That's 20 minutes in enemy space we weren't counting on."

She pulls away from the console, "All right. We better hop to it." She turns around only seeing Uhura when she could have sworn Spock was there a few seconds ago, "Where's Spock?"

"Here, Captain." He walks out near Uhura.

"You're coming with me to Kronos. Lieutenant, how's your Klingon?" She looks over at Uhura.

"It's rusty, but it's good."

"Good, you're coming too."

She walks over to the both of them, "This isn't going to be a problem, is it, you two working together?"

"Absolutely not."

Spock looks at Uhura as she walks away and then back at Aria, "Unclear."

Aria closes her eyes for a moment, "I'll meet you in the shuttle bay." She looks seeing Bones walk up to her.

"Ari, you're not actually going down there, are you?" He walks up close to her, "You don't rob a bank when the getaway car has a flat tire."

She turns and hits the comm button, "I'm sure engineering will have us all patched up by the time we get back. Isn't that right, Mr. Chekov?"

 _"Yes, captain."_  She could swear she heard some uncertainty in Chekov's voice.  _"I'll do my best, ma'am."_  She looks at Bones smirking and then turns to face Sulu, "Mr. Sulu, you have the conn." Her turns to face her, "Once we're en route, I want you to transmit a targeted comm burst to Harrison's location. You tell him you have a bunch of real big torpedoes pointed at his head and if he doesn't play nice, you're not afraid to use them." She looks seeing concern on his face, "Is that a problem?"

"No, ma'am. I've just never sat in the chair before."

"You're gonna do great." She smiles and goes to leave the bridge.

"Ari! Wait!" she feels Bones grab onto her arm, and she turns to face him, "You just sat that man down at a high-stake poker game with no cards and told him to bluff. Now Sulu's a good man, but he is no captain."

She looks away from him and then over at Sulu, "For the next two hours. He is." She shakes her head, her expression going from serious to silly, "And enough with the metaphors, all right? That's an order." She goes and walks to leave the bridge, "Mr. Sulu, make sure that K'normian ship is ready to fly." She walks out the doors with Bones following behind.

"Ari, wait a minute."

"What!" she says turning and snapping at him.

He walks close to her and begins to talk quietly, "Are you really going after this guy?"

"Yes! I am, Bones." Her voice is harsh as she looks at him, her eyes beginning to shake, "I would have shot those torpedoes at that fucking planet, if it meant John Harrison dying."

"You're not well, Ari. Why don't you let me go-"

"What—No, Bones. You're the Chief of Medical, I need you on here. Not out there." She shakes her head, rubbing her forehead.

"Do you even know what you're doing, Ari? What could possibly happen to you?"

She looks up at him, "Yes, I do. Nothing will." Her voice is stern. "We'll capture him and we'll leave, it's simple."

"Simple? You think he'll just willingly come with you. Are you even doing the right thing, by agreeing to what Admiral Marcus has asked of you?"

"Is it right, Bones?" She laughs softly, "What is right? I don't even know, I chose not to shoot those torpedoes, because Spock wanted me to do the right thing and now that I've made that choice, I don't know if it's the right one anymore. I'm going down there to get John Harrison and he will answer for taking Pike's life." She goes to walk away when Bone pushes her against the wall. She gasps looking up into his eyes filled with fury, his voice raising as he talks.

"Damn it, Ari! This is what it's been about, hasn't it! Getting even! It's why you volunteered to go after him. Isn't it?"

She could feel the tears coming, "Yes! All right!" Bones looks down at her trembling eyes as her voice begins to crack, "You're right." Her eyes stare into his, "I want to see John Harrison rot for taking away the only person that's ever been a father to me!" She looks away from him, her body shaking from anger. Bones loosens his grip on her and pulls her into a tight hug and her fingers dig into his back as she clenches onto his shirt.

"I-I'm sorry, Bones—"

He moves her face away from his chest and looks down at her, "You need to calm down, Ari. I don't want anything to happen to you."

She smiles and wipes her eyes, "I don't plan on dying today, Bones." She pulls him down and kisses him softly, "Now," she pulls away from him, "I want you to be on the bridge with Sulu, make sure he'll be all right."

He nods his head, "And what about you?"

"I'll be fine."

"You're a terrible liar, Ari."

She smiles and grabs onto his hand squeezing it for a second and then letting it go to head down to the shuttle bay.


	5. Chapter 5

Aria walks with Spock and Uhura down to the shuttle bay, Sulu's voice sounds over the comm,  _"Acting Captian Sulu to shuttle Bay 2. Please have the trade ship we confiscated during the Mudd incident last month fueled and flight ready. Captain Kirk is en route to you now."_

She walks through the shuttle bay heading up towards the ship, wearing a black leather jacket and black leather pants, she walks over to the two men standing near the ship, one being Cupcake, "Ready to deploy, Captain."

"Lieutenants, lose the reds shirts." She hands over two small bags, "You are K'normian arms dealers. Put those on."

"Ma'am?" they both give her questioning looks.

"Look, if this thing goes south, there can be nothing tying us to Starfleet. Unless of course you want to start a war, Mr. Hendorff." She looks at him.

"No, ma'am."

"No ma'am." They both look at her with concerning looks on their face.

"Good. Me, neither." She walks by them and heads onto the ship and takes a seat, turning the engines on as Uhura and Spock both walk on and take their seats.

The ship flies out of the Enterprise and into space as they fly towards Kronos, the ship moving fast.

"I am detecting a single life sign in the Ketha Province. Given the information provided by Mr. Scott, this is most likely John Harrison."

_Good._

"Mr. Sulu, I think we found our man. You let him know you mean business."

_"Aye, Captain."_

After traveling for some time, they reach the atmosphere of Kronos, "We will arrive at Harrison's location in three minutes, Captain. It is unlikely that he will come willingly. I calculate the odds of him attempting to kill us at 91.6%."

"Fantastic." she says sarcastically.

"Good thing you don't care about dying." She hears Uhura mumble and the chair squeaks as she leans over to look at Uhura.

_Oh great… Great time to do this Uhura, REALLY GREAT TIME. God damn it…_

Spock replies, "I am sorry, Lieutenant. I could not hear what you said—"

"Oh I didn't say anything." The ship goes silent and Aria looks back at her screen to focus on flying, "Actually, I'd be happy to speak, if you're willing to listen to me."

"Guys—" Aria tries to speak.

"Lieutenant, I would prefer to discuss this in private."

"You'd prefer not to discuss this at all." Uhura tone is becoming angry.

"Our current circumstances—"

"Are—are you really gonna do this right now?" Aria couldn't believe she was listening to him argue.

"What never seems to require you undivided focus—" she gets cut off by Aria.

"Guys—" Aria tries to speak again.

"I'm sorry, Captain. Just two seconds." She motions her fingers at Aria.

"Okay." She gives up trying to say anything at this point.

"—is us. At that volcano, you didn't give a thought to us. What it would do to me if you died, Spock." She goes quiet for a moment, before her voice becomes sad, "You didn't feel anything. You didn't care. And I'm not the only one who's upset with you. The Captain is, too."

She realizes she's being talked about, and turns to look at Uhura, "What—no, no, no. Don't drag me into this." Aria turns to look at Spock, "She is right."

"Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. A sentient being's optimal chance at maximizing their utility is a long and prosperous life."

"Great." Uhura is annoyed.

"Not exactly a love song, Spock." Aria looks back at her screen.

"You misunderstand. It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realizing that my own life was ending. As Admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. Anger. Confusion. Loneliness. Fear. I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again." They go quiet for a moment, all thinking about what Spock's saying, "Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite."

"Good, I'm glad that's settled. Now can we—" Aria gets cut off as something hits against the side of their ship, the alarm going off, "What the hell was that?"

"We are being pursued by a D-4 class Klingon vessel."

"I thought this sector was abandoned! That's what YOU said wasn't it!"

"It must be a random patrol!" Uhura says.

Aria hits a few switches, "Hold on!" she grabs onto the control stick and pulls them downwards into the clouds.

"This ship has no offensive capabilities." Spock says.

"It's got us. Give me all six fuel cells." Aria hits a few buttons and grabs onto the controls.

"Aye, Captain."

She dives the ship into a structure, the vessel following close behind them. It begins to shoot at them again as she flies through trying to avoid the gunfire, one of them hitting the ship again, "Damn it!"

"They're closing fast, bearing 285!"

Aria looks ahead seeing a small opening in the structure, her monitor zooming in on it, "All right, there! There! We can lose them there." she speaks quickly and surely and seems to think it'll work.

Spock on the other hand, "If you are suggesting that we utilize the passage between the approaching structures this ship will not fit."

"We'll fit."

_That or I'll make it fit._

"Captain, we will not fit." Spock's voice is firm.

"We'll fit, we'll fit!" Aria says loudly as she maneuvers the ship tilting it to the side as they fly in between the structures. The space is small and limited as they go through. She groans feeling the ship hitting against the walls every few seconds or so, sparks fly around the compartment and Uhura yells in fear. A few moment later they break out into the open again, Aria smiles to herself, taking huge breathes, though her heart beats hard in her chest, "I told you we'd fit." She says exasperated and leans over to look at Spock.

"I am not sure that qualifies." Spock says un-amused.

Aria continues to fly the ship through the structure, much bigger and open than the outside, "Any sign of them?"

"No, which worries me." Uhura looks over at her.

"We lost them!" Hendroff says.

"Or they're jamming our scanners."

"Or we lost them." Aria says looking over at Uhura before looking back out the window. She slows down the ship and looks out seeing nothing and hearing nothing. Then suddenly lights shine through, as a few ships surrounds theirs.

"Damn it." Aria whispers to herself.

"They're ordering us to land." Aria looks out not sure what to say, "Captain, they're gonna want to know why we're here. And they're gonna torture us. Question us. And they're gonna kill us."

Aria thinks for a moment, "So we come out shooting." She hears someone move before looking up and seeing Uhura looking down at her.

"We're outnumbered, outgunned. There's no way we survive if we attack first." Aria's gaze moves away from hers, starting to feel hopeless and unsure of what she should be doing, "You brought me here because I speak Klingon. Then let me speak Klingon." She looks up at her and then looks back at her monitor, she moves the ship downwards slowly landing it on the planet. The door opens as the ship lands on the ground, Uhura disappearing from their sight. Aria unbuckles herself and gets out of her seat, Spock and her watch as Uhura walks over to a group of Klingons.

"This isn't going to work." Aria says unsure.

"It is our only logical option. And if you interrupt her now, you will not only incur the wrath of the Klingons." He pauses and turns to look at Aria, "But that of Lieutenant Uhura as well."

They watch as she approaches them and begins to speak, though Aria cannot understand a word of it, one of them begins to walk towards her and Aria hurries over to a compartment grabbing the guns from there and hurrying back over to Spock, handing a gun over to one of the Lieutenants.

"Lieutenant."

"Thanks, Captain." She kneels back on the floor and begins to load her gun. Spock keeps an eye out on Uhura. Aria looks back up seeing the Klingon take off his helmet, she sits and watches. They converse for a few more minutes before the Klingon grabs onto Uhura's face lifting her up in the air, Aria begins to panic watching closely before she sees gunfire shooting at the Klingons. Aria gets up and runs outside the ship holding her gun up and shooting, as she runs through the ruins, shooting the Klingons as she goes.

_Who is shooting at them?_

She holds onto her gun tightly as she moves along slowly, a Klingon yells and swings a weapon at her and she ducks hitting him in the face. He groans and hits Aria causing her to move backwards, as he begins to swing his weapon at her again. She yells avoiding his weapon, his foot makes contact with her stomach and pushes her back causing her to fall to the ground. She holds her gun up and shoots him in the stomach, the Klingon falls down and she gets up hurrying around the corner. She sees the man shooting at everyone, she holds her gun up to shoot when a Klingon smashes into her and begins to try and smash her head into the ground. He picks her up and begins to choke her, she groans and lifts her arm up to smash her elbow into him. He groans and she whips her body back smashing him backwards and turning around shooting him down. Aria turns around and gets a gun smashed into her face, she falls on the ground yelling and cringing in pain. The Klingon steps on her face and she moves trying to get his foot off her face, when a gunshot goes through him causing him to fall down.

Aria rolls onto her stomach when Spock and Uhura hurry over and pick her up. Aria cringes in pain feeling her arm hurt and looks seeing the cloaked man still shooting the Klingons. Uhura leans her against a wall, and Aria watches the cloaked man, trying to figure out who this person is.

He continues to shoot at the Klingons before dropping his weapon and pulling off the cloth covering his face. She stares in shock realizing who it is.

_It's him, it's John Harrison… But why, why is he helping us… Why.._

John jumps off and runs towards them, killing any Klingon in his way. He picks up a gun hurrying over to them, Spock stands up holding a gun and aiming it at John, "Stand down."

"How many torpedoes?" John asks.

"Stand down!" Spock says louder but John shoots the gun out of his hands. Aria looks over at Spock for a moment before looking at Harrison.

He yells over the noise, "The torpedoes, the weapons you threatened me with in your message. How many are there?"

Aria glares at Harrison, not wanting to say a word to him.

"72." Spock says. John looks over at him with a concerned look on his face and then looks back at Aria.

He throws his gun over to the side, "I surrender."

Aria looks at him for a few moments and begins to move, moaning in groaning as she stands up facing him.

"On behalf of Christopher Pike, my friend, I accept your surrender." She goes to move away from him, but then yells and cracks him one in the face, again and again and again. So much anger is going into her punches, the tears threatening her eyes once again. She yells and punches him in the stomach, and then wraps her hands around his neck and begins to jab her knee into him. She holds onto his shoulder becoming tired and weak from hitting him.

_Why won't he—FALL!_

She punches him in the face again, and again and again and again, before Uhura yells, "Captain!"

Aria sounds out of breath, as she stands up straight and looks up at John's undamaged face, his hair a little messy. She looks at him as he whispers, "Captain." Aria turns away from him, too tired to deal with him anymore, the tears hitting her.

"Cuff him." She says quietly as she walks away from them and back to the ship.

They return to the Enterprise and when they land in the shuttle bay, Aria walks off with Harrison as a bunch of commanders walk with him, Aria walking behind the lot of them. She pulls out her communicator, "Bones, meet me in the med bay."

_"Be right there."_

She stops and turns to face Uhura, "Lieutenant." She seems a little hesitant of her next words, "Contact Starfleet, let them know we have Harrison in custody, and we'll be on our way once the warp core is repaired."

"Yes, ma'am." She says and Aria turns walking away from them.


	6. Chapter 6

She meets up with Bones in the med bay and walks over to one of the beds and sits down, "Dear god, woman. What did you do?" He looks down at her hand bruised and red.

She looks up at Bones, "I-I got a little angry at Harrison and tried to beat the hell outta him." she looks down at her hand and sighs, "But all it did was make him smirk at me."

Bones walks away for a moment and comes back over with a needle and injects it into her neck, she cringes, "Ow!"

"That should stop the pain."

Aria stares blankly at her hand, seeing the bruises forming on it. Her bottom lip trembles as she sits there.

_"I believe in you, Ari."_

She closes her eyes seeing the image of Pike laying on the ground with no signs of life.

"Ari?"

"Why-" she whispers.

"Why?" Bones seems confused.

"If I had- caught on sooner-" she looks up at Bones the tears lingering at her eyes, "Would Pike still be alive?"

His eyes soften, "Ari, you have to stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault."

"I miss him so much, Bones." she looks back down.

"I know you do. But there's nothing you can do now, except take Harrison back for trial and he  ** _will_**  be found guilty, Ari."

"But that's the thing, Bones." she reaches out grabbing onto the bottom of his shirt, "I can't shake this feeling."

"What feel-"

They get interrupted by one of the commanders, "Captain, Harrison is in the holding cell. If you wish to see him for questioning."

"Thank you." she says quietly as he leaves the room and she goes to move off the bed when Bones pins her against it. She blushes feeling his arousal straining against his pants, "Do we even have time?"

"We'll make time." he pulls off her pants and tosses them to the side sliding back in between her legs.

She moans and gasps lightly from the pain, "But-someone-see-"

He unbuttons his pants and slides the zipper down, "Don't worry-"

"We have to interview-"

He presses his lips against hers to silence her, as he pushes inside her warmth and slowly thrusts against her.

She fixes her hair as she walks with Bones through the corridors, "Why the hell did he surrender?"

"I don't know." Aria says looking over at him, and sees that Spock has joined their walk, "But he just took out a squad of Klingons single-handedly. I want to know how."

"Sounds like we have a Superman on board."

"You tell me."

Aria walks over with Bones and Spock towards Harrison in his contained cell. Bones walks up to the glass moving the circle over and expanding it "Put your arm through the hole. I'm gonna take a blood sample."

Aria watches as Harrison walks over to the glass slowly and pulls his sleeve back before placing his arm through the hole. Bones pushes the needle into his arm, "Why aren't we moving, Captain?" Harrison looks over at Aria, but she doesn't say anything, "An unexpected malfunction, perhaps in your warp core conveniently stranding you on the edge of Klingon space?"

Bones lifts his head up, "How the hell do you know that?"

_That's what I wanna know…_

"Bones." Her voice sounds like a warning.

Harrison's gaze stays locked onto Aria's, "I think you'd find my insight valuable, Captain." Bones pulls away from Harrison and takes the vial of blood.

"We good?"

"Yeah." Bones says quietly.

"Let me know what you find." Aria turns away from Harrison and begins to walk away from him with Spock following when Harrison speaks up, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Ignore me and you will get everyone on this ship killed."

She stands still, feeling anger run through her, "Captain." Spock says, "I believe he will only attempt to manipulate you. I would not recommend engaging the prisoner further."

"Give me a minute." Her voice is a harsh tone. She looks over at Spock for a moment and he walks away from her, leaving her alone. She turns around quickly and walks over towards Harrison, she stops right in front of him, "Let me explain what's happening here. You are a  ** _criminal_**." Her voice begins to rise out of anger, "I watched you murder innocent men and women. I was authorized to end you! And the ONLY reason why you are still alive is because I am allowing it! So  ** _shut_**  your  ** _mouth_**."

Harrison's voice rumbles as he speaks and his eyes pierce hers again, "Oh, Captain, are you going to punch me again over and over till your arm weakens? Clearly you want to, so tell me, why did you allow me to live?"

She clenches her hand tightly, "We all make mistakes."

"No. I surrendered to you because, despite your attempt to convince me otherwise, you seem to have a conscience, Ms. Kirk. If you did not, then it would be impossible for me to convince you of the truth." He pauses for a moment before giving her numbers, "23-17-46-11. Coordinates not far from Earth. If you want to know why I did what I did, go and take a look."

She watches his eyes, "Give me one reason why should I listen to you—"

"I can give you 72. And they're on board your ship, Captain. They have been all along. I suggest you open one up."

Aria looks at Harrison, watching him as he smiles at her. She pulls away from the glass and walks away from him quickly and hurries out of his sight. She leans against the wall trying to take a breather, feeling the anger flowing through her.

"What—was he talking about-the torpedoes?"

"Captain."

She jumps seeing Spock in front of her, "Damn it, Spock!"

"Are you alright, Captain?"

She shakes her head and rests her hand against her chest, "Yes. I'm fine, Spock. Just—" She pats his shoulder as she passes by him and walks into what she would count as a secluded area and pulls out her communicator to call Scotty.

_You fired him, are you forgetting that fact? You can't just call him up all the time when you want help… Then again… He's my friend-But you fired him—_

_"What?"_  Scotty's voice picks up along with the sound of music.

"Scotty, it's Kirk."

 _"Oooh, well now, if it isn't Captain Aria Tiberus Perfect Hair!"_  She looks at her communicator with a look on her face,  _"Did you hear that? I called her Perfect Hair."_

"What—Where are you?"

_"Where are you?"_

"Are you drunk?" he surely sounds like it.

_"What I do in my private time is my business, Arbo."_

She shakes her head, "I need you to help me out with something. Will you take these coordinates down? 23-17-46-11." She doesn't hear anything for a few seconds, "Are you writing?"

 _"What, you don't think I can remember four numbers?"_  She hears him laugh,  _"Ye of little faith. What was the third one?"_

"Forty-six. I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but I have a feeling you'll know it when you see it. You may have been right about those torpedoes."

_"I will consider that an apology. And I will consider that apology."_

She smiles to herself, "You are the one who quit."

 _"You made me quit!"_  his voice booms through before the call cuts off.

"Mr. Scott?" she groans, "Scott. Daaaaaah." She hangs up her communicator and turns around heading back to the bridge.

"We need to open one of those Torpedoes."

Bones goes silent, "And why would we do that?"

She avoids his gaze for a moment, "Because John said—"

"Are you out of your corn-fed mind?" She stands there feeling Spock's and Bone's gaze, "You're not actually going to listen to this guy? He killed Pike, he almost killed you, and now you think it's a good idea to pop open a torpedo because he dared you to."

Aria looks up, "Why did he save our lives, Bones?"

Spock speaks up, "The doctor does have a point, Captain."

Bones looks over at Spock, "Don't agree with me, Spock. It makes me very uncomfortable." He walks over to the window.

"Perhaps you too, should learn to govern your emotions, Doctor." Bones turns to look at Spock, "In this situation, logic dictates—" Aria looks away trying to think.

"Logic? Oh, my god! There's a maniac trying to make us blow up our own damn ship and—"

Aria tries to talk over Bones, pointing her finger at him, "That's not it. I don't know why he surrendered, but that's not it." She walks over a few steps, "Look, we're gonna open a torpedo. The question is how."

"But Ari, without Mr. Scott on board, who exactly is qualified to just pop open a four-ton stick of dynamite?"

"The Admiral's daughter appeared to have interest in the torpedoes and she is a weapons specialist. Perhaps she could be of some use."

Aria stands there for a few moments before a confused look crosses her face and she turns facing Spock, "What Admiral's daughter?"

"Carol Marcus. Your new science officer concealed her identity to board the ship."

She shakes her head, "When were you going to tell me that?"

"When it became relevant. As it just did." Spock sort of smiles at her, though she would call it a smirk.

Aria walks over to Bones, "Trust me. Okay?"

He looks over at her, his expression not impressed, "I still think it's a bad idea."

She looks over at Spock for a moment before looking back at Bones, she leans in and gives him a kiss on the lips before pulling away to go and find Carol.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are the torpedoes in the weapons bay?" Carol asks as Aria walks with her through the corridors.

"Loaded and ready to fire. What are they?"

"I don't know. That's why I forged my transfer onto your ship to find out why." She turns around to face Aria, "I do apologize for that. By the way, if I caused you any problems, I am sorry. I'm Carol Marcus."

"Aria Kirk." She shakes Carol's hand.

"Torpedoes." Aria follows Carol down to the weapons bay, "My father gave me access to every program he oversaw, then I heard he was developing these prototype torpedoes. When I went to confront him about it, he wouldn't even see me." They walk up to a shuttle, "That's when I discovered the torpedoes had disappeared from all official records."

"And then he gave them to me."

"You're much cleverer than you reputation suggests, Captain Kirk."

"I have a reputation?" she follows Carol onto the shuttle, "What are we doing in here?"

Carol looks over at Aria, "Is this shuttle prepped to fly?"

"Of course it is."

"Would you please turn around?"

"Why?"

"Just turn around." Aria nods her head and turns around understanding that Carol's going to be changing, "It's too dangerous to try and open one of these torpedoes on the Enterprise. But there is a nearby planetoid. I can open one up there. But I will need some help."

"Alright, and who exactly do you want to help you?"

"I need someone with the steadiest hands. And I'm sure you can tell me who that is, Captain."

Aria blushes and nods her head, "Uh—Yes. I—I mean—" she groans and hears Carol laugh.

"Don't worry, I won't judge. Captain Kirk actually settling down."

Carol finishes and walks by, Aria giving her a funny look, "Hey—what's that supposed to mean!"

Carol leaves Aria alone in the shuttle as Aria pulls out her communicator, "Bones?"

_"Yeah?"_

"Meet me in my quarters, I gotta talk to you about something."

_"Wait a minute, Ari. Look whatever it is I did to piss you off this time, I'm sorry. It doesn't mean you need to dump-"_

"Bones! Calm down. I need to talk to you about something ELSE."

 _"All right."_ His voice seems hesitant, " _I'll be there in a few minutes."_

She closes her communicator and shakes her head, "Doesn't mean you might not dump me when we're done talking." She mumbles to herself and leaves the shuttle to head to her quarters.

Aria stares out her window looking at Kronos, her door opens and she turns seeing Bones.

"Hi." she says in a soft tone.

He walks over to her and leans against the wall, "So, what do you need to talk about."

She walks over to him and leans against his frame, hugging him close, and looking up at him, "I need a favor."

He looks down at her and brushes a strand of a curl behind her ear, "You tend to do this when you want something."

"Yes, however- this has to do with the torpedoes."

Bones pulls away from her, walking over near her bed, "I still think it's stupid that you're listening to a man that tried to kill you." he turns to face her, "And succeeded in killing many others."

She looks away from Bones, "I know, but, the thing is... I don't know what's in those torpedoes. And the last thing I want is for anyone to get killed on my ship."

"Then what exactly are you asking of me, Ari?" he walks over to her, sounding a bit angry, "Dr. Marcus needs some help and I'm the only one that can do it. Is that right?"

"I- I don't know who else to ask-"

He shakes his head, "You're so lucky that I love you, you know that? I wouldn't be doing this for just anybody."

She looks up at him and blinks her eyes quickly, "I know, Bones. Which is why I'm going to ask you that, you come back to me in one piece." she walks close to him and leans into his chest, "I need you, I don't know what I would do without you."

She hears him sigh and his arms wrap around her tightly, "You think- I'd leave you alone on this ship? Who else is going to give you medical exams while you sleep at night."

She smiles and looks up at him, "So that's the noise I keep hearing. It's you."

"I'm a doctor and I worry about you."

She stands on her tippy toes and kisses him softly on the lips, "Thank you. I love you."

He pulls at her dress and she laughs softly, "Do we have time?"

"Nope." she says bluntly and pulls her dress back down, "The shuttles ready. You better go. I'll be monitoring you from the bridge."

"All right." Bones goes to turn away.

"Bones, one more thing." he looks at her, "Don't flirt with Dr. Marcus. Because you'll be wishing that torpedo goes off, if you do."

He smiles a bit and shakes his head, "Are-are you jealous of her?"

"What—Oh please, me—Jealous of her—"

"Aw, does Captain Aria Kirk want to be stuck on a planet with me and a torpedo?"

She groans and rolls her eyes, "Yes, I'll take what I can get."

"Don't be jealous, Ari." He lifts her chin and kisses her, "As you would say, trust me."

She grumbles, "Yes, I trust you."

He smiles and kisses her one more time before leaving her alone in her room.

Later, Aria heads back up to the bridge, "Captain on the bridge!"

"Mr. Sulu have Doctor Marcus and McCoy landed on the planetoid yet?"

"Yes, ma'am. They're moving the torpedo into position now."

Aria walks around the bridge, feeling a little worried about sending McCoy down with a torpedo, "Good. Any activity from the Klingons?" She walks over to the window.

"Not yet. But if we're stuck here much longer, they will find us."

"Lieutenant Uhura, did you let Starfleet know we have Harrison in custody?"

"Yes, ma'am. No response yet."

Aria turns around from the window.

_"Engineering to bridge. Hello? Captain! Can you hear me?"_

She walks over to the captain's chair and sits down, "Mr. Chekov, give me some good news."

_"We found the leak, ma'am, but the damage is substantial. We are working on it."_

"Any idea what caused it?"

_"Uuh, no, ma'am. But I accept full responsibility."_

"Something tells me it wasn't your fault. Stay on it." She ends the call.

"Shuttle is standing by, Captain."

She hits the comm button again, "Bones, thanks for helping out. Dr. Marcus asked for the steadiest hands on the ship." She blushes lightly.

_"You know, when I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, one, I was hoping it would be_ _**you** _ _! And two, there was no torpedo!"_

"Dr. McCoy, may I remind you, you are not there to flirt. Since if that torpedo does goes off it'll save me the time of ridding you MYSELF. So please stay focused."

_"So how can these legendary hands help you, Dr. Marcus?"_

"Bones…" her voice is becoming irritated.

Carol's voice sounds over the comm,  _"To understand how powerful these weapons are, we need to open the warhead. To do that, we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, the warheads on these weapons are live."_

_"Sweetheart, I once performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets. And let me tell you, those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile."_

Sulu turns around to look at Aria; she shakes her head, wanting to laugh at what is happening, but also feeling nervous.

_"Dr. McCoy, there's a bundle of fiber optic cables against the inner casing. You'll need to cut the 23_ _rd_ _wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else. Do you understand?"_

_"Right. The thought never crossed my mind."_

_"Dr. McCoy, wait for my word. I'm rerouting the detonation processor."_

Aria sits in the captain's chair, her heart beating hard in her chest.

_So help me god, Bones. You better come back to me alive._

_"Are you ready?"_

_"And raring."_

_"Good luck."_

Aria panics hearing Bones yell in pain, "Bones!"

"Ma'am the torpedo just armed itself." Sulu says.

"The warhead's gonna detonate in 30 seconds, ma'am!"

_"What the hell happened? I can't get my arm out!"_

"Target their signal. Beam them back right now." Aria's voice fills with concern.

Spock turns to look at Aria, "The transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and the torpedo. We cannot beam back on without the other."

"Dr. Marcus, can you disarm it?"

 _"I'm trying, I'm trying."_ Ari stands up out of her chair, standing still feeling fear flowing through her, Uhura standing beside her.

_"Ari, get her the hell out of here!"_

_"No! If you beam me back, he dies! Just let me do it!"_

_"Ten. Nine. Eight—"_

"Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus on your command, Ma'am."

"No, they're both coming back—" Aria looks at Sulu.

_"Four. Three. Two—"_

_"Shit!"_

"Deactivation successful, Captain." Uhura turns away placing her hand on Aria's shoulder. Aria releases a huge breath.

"Oh thank god…" she rests her hands on the control board, "Dr. McCoy, are you all right?" she panics slightly not hearing him say anything, "Bones!"

_"Ari? You're going to want to see this. Meet us in the med bay, when we return."_

"Okay, you sure you're all right, Bones?"

_"I'm fine, Ari."_

"Better be." She grumbles ending the comm.


	8. Chapter 8

When Bones and Carol return, Aria heads down with Spock to the Med Bay, "What have we got?"

"It's quite clever actually. This fuel container's been removed from the torpedo and retrofitted to hide this cryo tube."

Aria walks over to the torpedo and looks down at it before looking at Bones, "Is he alive?"

"He's alive. But if we try to revive him without the proper sequencing, it could kill him. This technology is beyond me."

Spock looks at Bones, "How advanced, Doctor?"

"It's not advanced." Carol looks at Spock, "That cryo tube is ancient." Aria looks over at Carol and then back at Bones.

"We haven't needed to freeze anyone since we developed warp capability, which explains the most interesting thing about our friend here. He's 300 years old." She stares at Bones in shock for a few moments before turning and high tailing it out of the med bay and back to where Harrison stands locked up.

Aria hurries back to his cell and stops in front of the glass and see's Harrison sitting down, "Why is there a man in that torpedo?"

He looks up at her, "There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there."

Aria looks over at Spock for a moment and then back at Harrison, "Who the hell are you?"

"A remnant of a time long past. Genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war. But we were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke, things would be different." He looks over at Spock, "But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift. I alone was revived." He looks back over at Aria.

She begins to speak, "I looked up, "John Harrison." Until a year ago, he didn't exist."

Harrison's voice becomes loud and he stands up walking over to Aria, "John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smokescreen to conceal my true identity. My name is… Khan."

Aria couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Why would a Starfleet Admiral ask a 300-year old frozen man for help?" her eyes never leave his.

"Because I am better."

"At what?"

"Everything. Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time and for that he needed a warrior's mind." Khan turns away from Aria. "My mind, to design weapons and warships."

Spock finally speaks, "You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simple because he wanted to exploit your intellect."

Khan turns and looks at Spock before becoming upset, "He wanted to exploit my savagery. Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mr. Spock. You…You can't even break a rule. How would you be expected to break bone?" he looks back over at Aria, "Marcus used me to design weapons. To help him realize his vision of a militarized Starfleet. He sent you to use those weapons. To fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet. And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome. The Klingons would come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he talked about. The war he always wanted."

At first, to Aria, it made sense, in a way. But then she didn't and couldn't believe it, "No. No." her face becomes upset, as she walks closer to the glass looking at Khan, "I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood!"

"Marcus took my crew from me." Khan turns away from Aria.

"You are a murderer!"

"He used my friends to control me. I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed, but I was discovered. I had no choice but to escape alone. And when I did, I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear. So I responded in kind." He turns around to face Aria and Spock, "My crew is my family, Kirk. Is there anything you would not do for your family?"

She stands there looking at Khan and taking in his last words, feeling some emotions claw at her mind but then,  _"Proximity alert, ma'am! There's a ship at warp heading right for us."_

"Klingons?" Aria asks.

"At warp? No, Kirk. We both know who it is."

 _"I don't think so. It's not coming at us from Kronos."_ Aria stands there for a moment before panic sets in.

She hurries away from him, "Lieutenant, move Khan to med bay. Post six security officers on him."

"Yes, Captain."

She runs and hurries to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge." Sulu says as she walks from the elevator and over to Sulu.

"ETA of the incoming ship."

"Three seconds, ma'am."

She walks over to the captain's chair and sits down, "Shields."

"Aye, Captain."

Aria watches as the ship comes into view, it's huge and black. Much bigger than the Enterprise, "Oh my god." She whispers, feeling a little terrified.

"They're hailing us, ma'am." Uhura says looking over at Aria.

"On screen." Aria replies, "Broadcast shipwide, for the record." She waits before the image of Admiral Marcus appears on screen.

_"Captain Kirk."_

She sighs in relief, "Admiral Marcus. I wasn't expecting you. That's a hell of a ship you got there."

Marcus on the other hand didn't seem so happy,  _"And I wasn't expecting to get word that you'd taken Harrison into custody in violation of your orders."_

"Well, we—uh—we had to improvise when our warp core unexpectedly malfunctioned. But you already knew that, didn't you, sir?"

_"I don't take your meaning."_

"Well, that's why you're here, isn't it? To assist with our repairs?"  _Maybe Khan was telling the truth…_ "Why else would the head of Starfleet personally come to the edge of the Neutral Zone?"

"Captain, they're scanning our ship." Sulu says quietly.

Aria keeps her eyes on Admiral Marcus, "Is there something I can help you find, sir?"

_"Where is your prisoner, Kirk?"_

"Per Starfleet regulation, I'm planning on returning Khan to earth to stand trial."

_"Well, shit. You talked to him. This is exactly what I was hoping to spare you from. I took a tactical risk and I woke that bastard up, believing that his superior intelligence could help us protect ourselves from whatever came at us next. But I made a mistake. And now the blood of everybody he's killed is on my hands. So I'm asking you, give him to me so that I can end what I started."_

Aria sits there thinking for a moment, "And what exactly would you like me to do with the rest of his crew, sir? Fire them at the Klingons? End 72 lives? Start a war in the process?"

 _"He put those people in those torpedoes. And I simply didn't want to burden you with knowing what was inside of them. You saw what this man can do all by himself. Can you imagine what would happen if we woke up the rest of his crew? What else did he tell you? That he's a peacekeeper? He's playing you, hon, don't you see that? Khan and his crew were condemned to death as war criminals. And now it is our duty to carry out that sentence before anybody else dies because of him."_ Marcus's tone becomes increasingly angry, Aria looks around the bridge and looks up at Spock for a moment,  _"Now, I'm going to ask you again! One last time, hon. Lower your shields."_

_No.._

_"Tell me where he is."_

_No…Time to lie._

"He's in engineering, sir. But I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away."

_"I'll take it from here."_

The call drops and she gets out of her seat, "Do not drop those shields, Mr. Sulu."

"Aye, Captain." She goes to leave the bridge before Spock speaks up.

"Captain, given your awareness of Khan's true location in the med bay may I know the details of your plan?"

"I told Marcus we were bringing a fugitive back to earth. That's what we're going to do." She walks over and hits the comm button, "Mr. Chekov, can we warp?"

_"Ma'am, if we go to warp, we run the risk of seriously damaging the core!"_

"Can we do it?"

He's silent for a few moments, before speaking,  _"Technically, yes, but I would not advise it, Captain."_

"Noted." She turns and looks at Sulu, "Mr. Sulu, set course for Earth."

"Yes, ma'am."

She walks back over to the chair and sits down, feeling a little nervous about what she's about to do, how many violations she'll be in, but damn it. She's bringing back Khan whether Marcus likes it or not, "Punch it."

Aria watches at they go into warp, the blue lines of light shining through the window, she turns, "Lieutenant Uhura, contact Starfleet. Tell them we were pursued into the Neutral Zone by an unmarked Federation ship."

"Comms are down, ma'am."

Aria stands up seeing Carol hurry through the doors, "Permission to come on the bridge."

"Dr. Marcus."

Carol walks over to her, "He's gonna catch up with us, and when he does, the only thing that gonna stop him destroying this ship is me, so you have to let me talk to him."

Aria looks confused, "Carol, we're at warp. He can't catch up with us."

"Yes, he can. He's been developing a ship that has advanced warp capabilities and I—"

"Captain!" Sulu cuts Carol off and Aria looks at him, "I'm getting a reading I don't understand." She stands there before something hits against the ship, causing her to fall over taking Carol down with her. The alarm sounds through the ship and feels the ship take a few more hits before they finally get out of warp, Aria steads herself and walks over to Sulu, "Where are we?"

"We're 273,000 Kilometers from Earth."

"Damage report!" Aria says walking along the bridge.

"Weapons are down!"

"Shields are dropping."

"We're defenseless, ma'am."

_Great, that's exactly what I wanted to hear._

"Ma'am, we have a bulkhead breach." Aria watches as one of her Lieutenants hurries by her.

She turns to someone, "Where's the damage?"

"Major hull damage, Captain." Fear courses through her as the ship shifts again, the alarm beginning to hurt her ears.

_He's going to kill us… Marcus is really going to kill us… Pike… Pike what should I do?_

"Evasive maneuvers! Get us to earth! Right now!" she turns yelling at Sulu, and gets up to go when Carol yells at her.

"Captain! Stop! Everybody on this is going to die if you don't let me speak to him." She looks at Carol for a moment, hearing the sound of the alarm and the truth hitting her hard.

She looks over at Uhura, "Uhura, hail him."

Carol turns to face the screen, "Sir. It's me. It's Carol."

The image of Marcus appears on the window, a concern look on his face,  _"What are you doing on that ship?"_

"I heard what you said. That you made a mistake and now you're doing everything you can to fix it. But, Dad," she takes a breather, hearing the sadness in her voice, "I—I don't believe that the man who raised me is capable of destroying a ship full of innocent people. And, if I'm wrong about that, then you're gonna have to do it with me on board."

_"Actually, Carol, I won't."_

"Oh—" Aria looks seeing light wrap around Carols body, she turns to look at her, "Ari—"

"Can we intercept the transport signal?"

"No, ma'am."

Carol walks a few steps before screaming loudly as her body disappears from sight, "Carol!" Aria yells.

 _"Captain Kirk, without authorization and in league with the fugitive John Harrison, you went rogue in enemy territory, leaving me no choice—"_ Aria turns to look at Marcus,  _"But to hunt you down and destroy you. Lock phasers."_

"Wait, sir, wait, wait, wait!" she yells in panic and runs towards the screen.

_"I'll make this quick."_

_He's actually going to kill us… Pike… Please, Please… Help me…_

_"Target all aft torpedoes on the Enterprise bridge."_

"Sir, my crew was just following my orders. I take full responsibility for my actions."

 ** _You don't comply with the rules, you don't take responsibility for anything, and you don't respect the chair._** Her sadness was beginning to come through, "But they were mine and they were mine alone. If I transmit Khan's location to you now, all that I ask is that you spare them."

**_That's your problem, you think you're infallible! You think you can't make a mistake._ **

_I've made a huge mistake, Pike… and now I'm going to pay for it._

The tears rest at her eyes as she walks closer to the window, looking at Marcus, "Please, sir. I'll do anything you want. Just let them live."

 _"That's a hell of an apology. But if it's any consolation, I was never going to spare your crew."_ Aria stares at the screen,  _I really fucked up, Pike. "Fire when—"_

The call ends and she stares at the empty vast of space before turning around slowly to face everyone on the bridge.

_I'm going to lose everyone… Spock, Sulu, Uhura… Bones…. Everyone._

"I'm sorry."

She stands there and pulls out her communicator, "Bones." She says in a quiet voice.

_"Yeah?"_

"I love you." She stares at her comm, hearing Bones breathe,  _"I love you too."_ She closes her communicator.


	9. Chapter 9

After a few moments of waiting for death to befall them, Sulu looks up at her, "Their weapons have powered down. Ma'am."

"What—"

Then a familiar voice sounds over the ship,  _"Enterprise! Can you hear me?"_

She turns to face the window, "Scotty! Oh my god, I've never been so happy to hear your voice!"

_"Guess what I found behind Jupiter."_

"You're on that ship!" Aria smiles feeling slightly relived that they are going to be alive for a little while longer.

_"I snuck on. And seeing as I've just committed an act of treason against a Starfleet Admiral, I'd really like to get off this bloody ship. Now beam me out!"_

She feels like laughing, but smiles, "You're a miracle worker. We're—We're a little low on power right now. Just stand by. Stand by."

 _"What do you mean, "Low on power?" What happened to the Enterprise?"_ He pauses for two seconds, _"Call you back."_ He says in a hurry and ends the call.

"Scotty!" she turns away from the window and hurries over to Spock, "Spock. Our ship, how is she?"

"Our options are limited, Captain. We cannot fire and we cannot flee."

She looks away from Spock, thinking for a moment before looking back, "There is one option." She looks over at Uhura, "Uhura, when you get Scotty back, patch him through."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Mr. Spock, you have the conn." She hurries across the bridge over to the elevator, Spock following close behind.

"Captain, I strongly object." The doors close.

"To what? I haven't said anything yet." She doesn't look at him.

"Since we cannot take the ship from the outside, the only way we can take it is from within. And as a large boarding party would be detected, it is optimal for you to take—" the doors open and Aria walks out of the elevator with Spock still talking, "—As few members of the crew as possible. You will meet resistance, requiring personnel with advanced combat abilities and innate knowledge of that ship. This indicates that you plan to align with Khan, the very man we were sent here to destroy."

"I'm not aligning with him, I'm using him.  _'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'_ "

"An Arabic proverb attributed to a prince who was betrayed and decapitated by his own subjects."

"Still, it's a hell of a quote." She hurries through the corridor to the med bay.

"I will go with you, Captain."

"No, I need you on the bridge." She turns speaking to him.

Spock touches her shoulder, "I cannot allow you to do this." She stops walking and turns to face him, "It is my function aboard this ship to advise you on making the wisest decisions possible, something I firmly believe you are incapable of doing in this moment."

"You're right!" she snaps looking at him, "What I'm about to do, it doesn't make any sense, It's not logical. It is a gut feeling." She looks away from him for a moment. Fear. Sadness and anger stirring within her, "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I can do. The Enterprise and her crew need someone in that chair that knows what he's doing." She looks at Spock her eyes watching his, "And it's not me. It's you, Spock." She stands there looking at him for a few seconds before finally turning away from him and hurrying down the corridor.

Aria walks through the med bay doors and stands there looking at Khan sitting on the bed, straight and perfect like.

_I'm doing the right thing, asking for his help. There is no other way and I don't know anything about that ship… Khan can help me save my crew…_

_But I can't seem to shake off this feeling…_

She thinks for a moment before walking over to him and standing in front of him, tense and very afraid, "Tell me everything you know about that ship."

Khan looks at her, "Dreadnought class, two times the size, three times the speed. Advanced weaponry. Modified for a minimal crew. Unlike most Federation vessels, it's built solely for combat."

She watches his eyes, "I will do everything I can to make you answer for what you did." Khan looks at her, not moving nor saying a word as silence lingers between them before Aria speaks again in defeat, "But right now I need your help."

"In exchange for what?"

"You said you'd do anything for your crew. I can guarantee their safety."

"Captain." He says quietly watching her emotions stir, "You can't even guarantee the safety of your own crew."

Silence lingers between them with the truth out there in the open.  _What the hell am I thinking…_

A noise breaks her concentration, "Bones, what are you doing with that tribble?"

"The tribble's dead. I'm injecting Khan's platelets into the deceased tissue of a necrotic host." She watches Bones, "Khan's cell regenerate like nothing I've ever seen, and I want to know why."

Aria walks close to Khan, her face a few inches away from his, "You coming with me or not?"

Khan looks at her and says quietly and mockingly, "Anything for you, Captain."

She clenches her hand into a fist, wanting to punch him. Bones comes up behind her and touches her shoulder, "Let it go, Ari."

She turns her head to look at him and smiles, "I'll see if I Uhura got a hold of Scotty yet." She looks back at Khan, "You're coming with me… Now."

Khan stands up and walks over with the officers, she turns and faces Bones, "Why is it that every time I talk to you, it's always before I'm about to go and risk my life?"

"Bad habit, Ari." She smiles slighty and grabs onto his hand, he brings her hand up and kisses her fingers softly.

"I gotta go." She says quietly before kissing him on the lips deeply, she pulls away and walks out to the corridor, the officers standing with Khan, "Let's go."

Scotty's voice sounds over her communicator,  _"You want to do what?"_ he sounds in shock.

"We're coming over there. Sulu's maneuvering the Enterprise into position as we speak." Aria walks through the corridor with Khan and a few officers.

_"To this ship? How?"_

Khan starts to speak, "There's a cargo door, hangar 7, access port 101A. You need to find the manual override to open that airlock."

_"Are you crazy!? Whoever you are…"_

"Just listen to him, Scotty. It's gonna be all right."

_"It is not gonna be all right. You want me to open an airlock into space, whereupon I will freeze, die and explode!"_

"Scotty, please, calm down. You're not going to…explode."

 _"Aye, but I'll DIE!"_ he whispers harshly through the communicator and hangs up.

Both dressed in suits and their helmets fitting tightly over their faces, Aria and Khan crawl down a hatch into one of the engines. She looks up signalling the men to close the hatch as she walks forward standing behind Khan, but is standing close due to tight space, "Scotty, how we doing over there?"

_"Captain, I wish I had better news. They've locked out access to the ship's computer. They'll have full weapons in three minutes. That means next time I won't be able to stop them destroying the Enterprise. Stand by."_

The call ends and then Spock's voice sounds through,  _"Captain, the ships are aligned."_

"Copy that. Scotty!"

 _"I'm in the hangar. Give me a minute."_ She stands there hearing him huff and puff _, "I'm running. Stand by."_ She laughs a little hearing him groan after a few seconds.

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, now, Captain. This door is very wee. I mean, you know, small. It's four square meters, tops. It's gonna be like jumping out of a moving car, off a bridge, into your shot glass."_

"It's okay. I've done it before." Khan turns to look at her, with a look on his face, "Yeah, it was vertical. We jumped onto a…It was a…it doesn't matter. Scotty-"

Khan cuts in, "Did you find the manual override?—"

Aria talks over Khan, "The manual override, Scotty."

 _"Not yet, not yet."_ She hears him running again.

Spock comes through the comm,  _"Captain, before you launch, you should be aware there is a considerable debris field between our ships."_

"Spock, not now. Scotty, you good?"

 _"It's not easy! Just give me two seconds, all right, you mad bitch!"_ She looks seeing Khan crouch down onto the floor, and then crouches on the floor as well.

_"Okay, okay! I'm set to open the door."_

"You ready?" she asks Khan.

"Are you?" she takes in his question but doesn't answer and turns on her digital compass as some data fills along her helmet.

"Spock, pull the trigger."

 _"Yes, Captain."_ She waits a few seconds before she hears Spock's voice again, _"Launching activation sequence on three, two, one—"_

The hatch opens and Aria and Khan both shoot out into space. She stays straight keeping her head up and looking straight at her target, her helmet helping with the course and cold of space freezing along her suit. Suddenly Spock's voice sounds through the comm,  _"Captain, there is debris directly ahead."_

"Copy that." She says and uses her boosters to move her to the side, but moves too far.

_"Whoa! Ari, you're way off course!"_

"I know, I know! I can see that." She moves through the debris, moving left and right, avoiding hitting anything.

_I hope this works…_

Sulu's voice sounds through _, "Use your display compass, Captain. You must correct precisely 37.243 degrees."_

"Got it. I'm working my way back." Her helmet flashes off course, watching the display as she travels through open space, "Scotty, you're gonna be ready with that door, right?" she doesn't hear anything, "Mr. Scott, where are you?"

_"Captain, he can't seem to hear you. I'm working on getting his signal back. Stand by."_

She flinches as small bit of debris hits against the glass on her helmet, leaving a bunch of cracks. Her heart begins to beat fast in her chest, "Damn it."

_"Captain, what is it?"_

"My helmet was hit. Uhura tell me you have Mr. Scott back."

_"Not yet. I'm still working on signal. His communicator is working. I don't know why he isn't responding."_

Aria keeps looking ahead trying to stay calm, she looks over not seeing Khan anymore, "Was khan hit?"

_"We are trying to find him now."_

_"Captain, you need to adjust your target destination to 183 by 473 degrees."_ She presses the button and begins to move left and right, up and down, maneuvering through the debris, the crack on her helmet worrying her. But as she flies towards the ship, the crack becomes bigger and bigger, till her screen shuts down, leaving Aria flying blind.

She manages to say calmly, "Spock, my display is dead. I'm flying blind."

_"Captain, without your display compass, hitting your target destination is mathematically impossible."_

_Is… is Spock concerned about me? Probably not._

"Spock, if I get back, we really need to talk about your bedside manner." She continues to fly forward, unaware of where she is going.

Then she hears Khan's voice,  _"I see you, Kirk, you're 200 meters ahead of me at my one o'clock."_ She looks to her left seeing Khan and then looks ahead again,  _"Come to your left a few degrees and follow me."_

She pushes the button and moves over flying close to Khan now, he looks over at her for a moment and she looks, his eyes catching hers before looking straight ahead, "Scotty, we're getting close. We need a warm welcome. Do you copy? Do you copy, Scotty!" she panics seeing their destination only a few short seconds away.

_"If you can hear us Mr. Scott, open the door in ten, nine—"_

"Scotty!" she yells in panic.

_"Eight, seven—"_

"Mr. Scott, where are you!?"

_"1,800 meters. 1,600 meters."_

She watches seeing the hatch as they near, "Scotty, where are you?"

_"Three—"_

"Do you copy, Scotty? Please!" she sees the crack in her screen becoming worse.

_"Two—Mr. Scott, open the door!"_

"Open the door!" she yells.

_"Mr. Scott, now!"_

The hatch opens and Aria and Khan fly into the ship as someone screams flying past them. They are still airborn and she yells before hitting against the ground and sliding and rolling down a runway for a few minutes. They both groan as they finally stop rolling, "Welcome aboard." She pushes herself up and sees Scotty sitting on the ground.

"It's good to see you, Scotty."

"Who is that?"

She groans and gets on her knees stretching, "Khan, Scotty. Scotty, Khan."

"Hello." Scotty says.

Khan looks over at her, "They'll know we're here. I know the best way to the bridge."

_Of course you do…_

She stands up taking off her helmet and her suit, leaving her in nothing but her grey dress and black tights. She grabs a case and opens it, handing over Khan a gun, "It's locked to stun."

"Theirs won't be." He takes it from her.

She looks at Khan, "Try not to get shot." Khan goes ahead with Aria and Scotty following behind as they navigate through the hangar deck.

"They're going to have full power and we're walking?" Scotty whispers harshly.

"The turbolifts are easily tracked and Marcus would have us in a cage." He stops to access a computer, "This path runs adjacent to the engine room. They know that won't be able to use their weapons here without destabilizing the warp core, which gives us the advantage."

Khan hurries ahead, and Scotty looks at Aria as they hurry, "Where'd you find this guy?"

"It's a long story." She says as they turn the corner and hurry trying to keep up with Khan.


	10. Chapter 10

“I don’t mean to tempt fate here, but where is everybody?” Scotty looks at Khan, Aria following close behind as they walk.

“The ship is designed to be flown by minimal crew, one if necessary.” “One? I—“ Scotty gets cut off as someone runs into Khan, he grabs onto them and begins punching them. Aria and Scotty slowly back away from him before someone else shows up; she grabs onto the guy and slams him into the wall, before pulling him off and punching him. The guy pushes her back and begins to punch her in the face, she groans and dodges him before grabbing onto him and smashing his head against something.

She bends down to help Scotty, “You all right?” “Yeah.” He looks down the long way, “Where’s Khan?” She looks seeing no one.

They walk forward looking for him, “Damn it.” She whispers.

“Why is this guy helping us?”

“That’s the problem Scotty--” “Where is he?” they walk through the engine room, Aria holding her gun close to her.

“Shit!”

“This way.”

She jumps a little as they both turn seeing Khan. She looks at Scotty, “The minute we get to the bridge, drop him.”

“What, stun him? Khan? I thought he was helping us.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re helping him.” She looks watching where Khan is going. They catch up to him as they continue to head through the ship’s engine room. The area is dark and red for a few moments before the area lights up. _Oh no…_ They reach the bridge and she points her gun shooting and stunning a few of the men. She hurries over to Marcus with her gun pointing at him, she looks over at Scotty, and gives her head a nod as he shots Khan, stunning him.

“Make sure he stays down.” She looks at Marcus, feeling very angry, “Admiral Marcus, you’re under arrest.”

“You’re not actually going to do this, are you?” He looks at her, mockingly.

“Admiral, get out of the chair.” She has her finger on the trigger button.

“You better stop and think about what you’re doing, Kirk. You better think about what you did on Kronos. You made an incursion onto an enemy planet! You killed a Klingon patrol. Even if you got away without a trace, war is coming.” His voice begins to raise as he yells at her, “And who is going to lead us? You? If I’m not in charge, our entire way of life is decimated! So you want me off this ship, you better kill me.”

“I’m not going to kill you, sir.” She gets snippy, “But I could stun your ass and drag you out of that chair. I’d rather not do that in front of your daughter.” She looks over at Carol, “You all right?”

“Yes, Captain.” Her voice is shaky. Suddenly she hears a noise, “Ari!” Carol yells and Khan throws himself onto her knocking her down onto the ground, he straddles her and punches her in the face. She cries out feeling the pain of his punch and he punches her again, before getting off of her and picking her up by the hair and punching her in the stomach and throwing her to the side. She groans in pain before hearing Carol scream loudly in pain and she looks over seeing blood all over Khan's hands.

_Oh my god…_

Khan walks over and picks up Aria up walking her in front of the screen with a gun pressed against her back, hailing the Enterprise, "I'm going to make this very simple for you."

_"Captain."_ She hears Spock's voice.

"Your crew for my crew."

_"You betrayed us."_

"Oh you are smart, Mr. Spock."

"Spock don't—" Khan hits her in the back of her neck and she falls down onto the ground in pain, listening.

"Mr. Spock, give me my crew."

_"And what will you do when you get them?"_

"Continue the work we were doing before we were banished."

She groans and turns to look up at the screen seeing Spock's face,  _"Which, as I understand it, involves the mass genocide of any being you find to be less then superior."_

"Shall I destroy you, Mr. Spock? Or will you give me what I want?"

_"We have no transporter capabilities."_

"Fortunately mine are perfectly functional. Drop your shields."

_"If I do so, I have no guarantee that you will not destroy the Enterprise."_

_Spock… no… don't…_

"Well, let's play this out logically then, Mr. Spock. Firstly, I will kill your Captain to demonstrate my resolve. Then if yours holds, I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew."

_"If you destroy our ship, you will also destroy your own people."_

"Your crew requires oxygen to survive, mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle." Aria moves slightly and beings to push herself up, "And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people. Now, shall we begin?"

_"Lower shields."_

"A wise choice, Mr. Spock." Aria gets up only to have Khan kick her in the stomach, she yells in pain and coughs laying on the ground again, "I see your 72 torpedoes are still in their tubes. If they're not mine commander, I will know it."

_"Vulcan's do not lie. The torpedoes are yours."_

"Thank you, Mr. Spock."

_"I have fulfilled your terms. Now fulfill mine."_ Aria feels the pain wracking her body as she slowly pushes herself up again.

"Well, Kirk, it seems apt to return you to your crew." She stands up slowly and cups her head, feeling so much pain. Light begins to surround her body, "After all, no ship should go down without her Captain."

She opens her eyes and see's they're on the Enterprise but in the cell, Scotty runs over to the glass, "Let us outta here now!"

She looks at Carol for a moment, before the ship shifts and the alarms sound through. They open the cell and Aria and Scotty help Carol out as they walk through the halls and then Spock's voice sounds over the comm,  _"Crew of the Enterprise, prepare for imminent proximity detonation."_

"What's he talking about? What detonation?"

"The torpedoes. He armed the damn torpedoes!" they hurry through the corridors as they reach the med bay and walk through the doors, "Bones!"

"Bones!"

"Nurse!" a woman walks over to them, "I got you."

Uhura helps her, "Dr. Marcus." They walk away with her and Aria looks over seeing Bones.

"Good to see you, Ari."

She hurries over to him and hugs him tightly, "You helped Spock detonate those torpedoes?"

"Damn, right I did."

She smiles at him for a moment, "He killed Khan's crew!" she rests her hands on his arms looking up at him, her smile disappearing.

"Spock's cold, but he's not that cold. I've got Khan's crew." He turns his head to the side and she looks, "72 human popsicles safe and sound in their cryo tubes."

"Son of a bitch!" then suddenly the power goes off leaving them in darkness. As the ship shifts, Bones pulls away from Aria, "Engage emergency lockdown!" he runs over to Carol to lock her to the bed.

Aria and Scotty head through the ship, with only minimal lights guiding their way, she holds onto the sides as she walks, and hears Scotty, "One day I've been off this ship! One bloody day!" they hurry down the corridor and the ship begins to turn, she falls and grabs onto the edge holding on tightly before the ships shifts and she yells sliding down and grabbing onto the rails.

_"Attention all decks. Evacuation protocols initiated."_ She holds on tightly and sees a crew member sliding by screaming loudly, Aria and Scotty reach out their hands to try and grab her but is too late as she slide into the depths.

_"Proceed to exit bays and report to your assigned shuttle."_

"There won't be time for evacuation if we don't get power to stabilize the damn ship!" Scotty yells.

She looks over at him, "Can we restore it?" she yells.

"Only from engineering. We have to get back to the warp core." The ship turns again allowing Aria and Scotty to stand back up, she hurries and turns to look at him.

"Ari!"

"Scotty, we got to get the power back on! Come on!" He follows her as they run through the corridors, red lights flashing everywhere as they work their way to the engineering room. The ship begins to tilt again causing them to run along the wall and panics seeing a gap ahead of them, "Scotty, we gotta jump!"

"What!"

She nears the edge, "Jump! Jump!"

"Oh god!" they both yell jumping over the gap and continuing forward. Finally after what seems forever they reach the engineering bay and hurry down the stairs and across a platform, the ship tilts again as she lays down on the bar before looking up and seeing a big object smash against the platform causing the both of them to hang off the edge.

"Ari!" Scotty yells.

"Hold on!"

"I can't." Scotty loses his grip and Aria grabs onto his hand holding it tightly, her other hand losing its grip slowly and just as her hand is about to let go, someone grabs onto her hand, "I've got you, Captain!"

"Chekov."

"Don't let go!" Scotty says panicked. The ship turns again letting them hang off the platform, Chekov helps them from the ledge and back onto solid ground, "Let's go!" she hurries forward again, almost close to their destination.

"Even if we get the warp core online, we've still got to redirect the power!" She hears Scotty as he hurries to her.

"He's right, Captain!" Chekov says as he meets up with them.

She looks at them, "What are you talking about?"

"Someone has to hit the manual override." She nods her head and Scotty looks over at Chekov, "Laddies, there's a switch—"

"Behind the deflector dish! I'll flip the switch!" Chekov hurries off.

"Let's go!" Aria yells and hurries with Scotty to the warp core. They reach the shuttle area and look in horror seeing all the shuttles falling as the ship begins to turn again.

She follows Scotty reaching the warp core,  _"Core misaligned. Danger. "_

"Oh, no, no, no, no."

"What?" she stops to catch her breath and looks at the monitor.

"The housings are misaligned! There's no way we can redirect the power!" he turns to look at her, "The ship's dead, ma'am. She's gone."

She looks over to the side.  _There's still one way…_ "No, she's not." She hurries through the small space to the core.

"Wait, Ari! If we go in there, we'll die! Did you hear me? The radiation will kill us!" she hurries maneuvering through the pipes and steam, "Will you listen to me? What the hell are you doing?"

She reaches the entrance to the warp core and types in the screen, "I'm opening the door. I'm going in."

Scotty yells, "That door is there to stop us from getting irradiated! We'd be dead before we made the climb!"

_Only I am._

She stops typing and stands there for a moment, "You're not making the climb." She turns around and cracks Scotty in the face, knocking him out. She picks him up and takes him over to a chair and sits him in it and goes to hurry away again, but then turns around to buckle him in.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's short >_

Aria heads to the doors and pulls the latch, the doors opens and she slips inside to another door as the radiation begins hitting her system, she breathes quickly and types in another pad, the hatch open and she crawls through her breathing hard and quick as she finally reaches the core. She looks up and feels the radiation and sees where she must go and begins to make her ascend up to the core.

She stops seeing the broken core and slowly continues her way up, groaning and moaning in pain as the radiation hits her hard, making it harder to breath and harder to move.

_I must make it… I must make it to the top!_

She cries out throwing herself upwards onto some huge pipes, her lungs finding it harder and harder to take in any air. She reaches the top and grabs onto something as she takes every ounce of energy to kick the core, it makes a starting noise but then stops every time she kicks it. So she tries again and again, kicking it with all her strength.

_Work damn you! Work!_

She kicks and kicks and kicks, then finally after the last kick, she smiles as the core connects and she goes flying back down below. She cries out hitting the ground, feeling the life from her being sucked out, as she slowly, drags herself to the hatch and back through the small tunnel.

_I—I did it…_

She smiles to herself and collaspes on the ground laying there, as her breathing becomes more and more shallow, she pulls out her communicator,  _"Yeah?"_

"Bones…" her voice is weak as she whispers.

_"Ari. Ari, where are you!"_

"I'm sorry, Bones. Please—forgive me—"

 _"Ari!—"_ she hangs up her communicator and throws it over to the side.

After a bit she finally pushes herself up a little and moves over near the door, she presses the button and closes the hatch, finding it only just a little bit better to breathe. She sounds as if she's out of breath and leans against the door, she turns her head seeing Spock kneeling beside the door, "How's our ship?" she says quietly.

"Out of danger." His voice sounds upset, "You saved the crew."

"You used what he wanted against him." She breathes quickly, "That's a nice move."

"It is what you would have done."

She looks away from him, "And this, this is what you would have done." She looks back up at him, "It was only logical." Her eyes tear up as fear claws at her, "I'm scared, Spock. Help me not be." He doesn't say anything, but the emotion is evident on this face.

She looks away, "How do you choose not to feel?"

"I do not know. Right now I am failing." She looks back up at Spock, seeing his sadness, her breathing becoming lighter and faint.

"I want you to know why I couldn't let you die." she uses her energy to keep her eyes open, "Why I went back for you."

"Because you are my friend." Spock says as a tear slides from his face, she groans in pain as she moves her hand and places it against the window. She watches as Spock places his hand against the glass, she moves her fingers slowly, making the same sign he's made. She swallows and turns to look at Spock, her breathing slowing down and then finally everything goes black.


	12. Chapter 12

**_"What is it?'_ **

**_"It's a girl"_ **

**_"Let's call her Ari."_ **

**_"Your father was a captain of a star-ship for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives. I dare you to do better."_ **

_Aria stands in the middle of a desert, looking around and seeing no one for miles, "Hello!" she yells out, but only her voice answers her back, "Is there anyone here?" she walks forward, slowly before seeing a figure out in the distance. She runs and hurries towards this figure but stops when she sees a little girl standing there._

_"Hello?"_

_The little girl turns around to face her, "I'm looking for my way home… Do you know where it is?"_

_Aria looks around but see's nothing for miles, "No—I—I'm sorry. I don't."_

_"Figures… I don't really belong anywhere." Aria walks closer to the girl and kneels down beside her._

_"What's troubling you?"_

_"Mum is always off Earth doing something… It's like she doesn't even care about me."_

_"I'm—I'm sure that's not true."_

_The little girl looks up at her, "I'm going to leave this place."_

_"Where are you leaving too?"_

_"There."_

_The little girl points and Aria turns seeing a building, "A bar? Why would you go there—" she turns to face the little girl but sees nothing there._

_She stands up and walks towards the bar and through the doors. When she walks in, the place is empty except for someone sitting at the bar, "Pike?" she says as he turns around._

_"Ari, come sit. Have a drink."_

_She looks at him confused but walks over and sits down beside him, "What is this place?"_

_"I don't know." He looks over at her, "How are you feeling?"_

_"Am I supposed to be feeling anything?" she looks over at him._

_He chuckles and smiles, "Probably not." he takes a sip of his drink._

_"Why this Bar?"_

_"It's where I first found you. After you got your ass handed to you."_

_She smiles, "How many times do I have to tell you, I didn't get my ass kicked."_

_Pike smiles and pats her shoulder, "That was a hell of a thing you did for your crew. I'm proud of you, Ari."_

_She looks away from him for a moment, feeling her eyes blur, "You were right, sir. About me. About what I was doing-"_

_"You saved your crew. You risked your life so that others could live. That takes courage, hon. I saw greatness in you and you showed that by giving your life up and saving the people you care about. They're your family."_

_"You were-" she takes a deep breath, "-Part of that family, sir."_

_"I know. I always will be, Ari."_

_She looks at him feeling some tears slide down her cheeks and she wipes them away quickly, "You've been like a father to me."_

_He smiles and places his hand on her shoulder, "It's been my honor. Even though you've been a pain in my ass." he turns away from her and gets off of his seat walking away from her towards the front doors._

_"Wait! Where are you going?"_

_Pike turns to face her, "I have to go now, Ari."_

_She stands up from the stool and walks over to him, "No-no you can't-" she shakes her head feeling more tears slide down her face, "Its-its been so long since I've seen you. I've missed you, please-you can't go."_

_Pike smiles, "Ari, I'll always be around, no matter what."_

_Her face scrunches in pain, "Please, sir. I've been so angry and lost without you." she sniffles and wipes the tears from her face._

_"You know, if I had ever had a daughter, she'd be someone like you."_

_She nods her head, "Thank you, sir."_

_"Take care of the Enterprise for me." He waves his hand as he goes to walk out the door._

_She gives him a confused look, "Wait, sir-"_

Aria's eyes open quickly as she breathes in deeply through her nose, her eyes dart around the room before turning her head and seeing Bones standing there "Don't be so melodramatic. You were barely dead." He holds a device near her head, looking down at the PADD, "It was the transfusion that really took its toll. You were out cold for two weeks."

"Transfusion?" she says trying to get her voice back.

"Your cells were heavily irradiated. We had no choice." He presses a small device against her chest.

"Khan?" she whispers.

"Once we caught him, I synthesized a serum from his super-blood. Tell me, are you feeling homicidal? Power mad? Despotic?"

She smiles slightly, "No more than usual. How'd you catch him?"

"I didn't." Bones walks over to the other side of her as Spock walks over to the bed looking down at her.

"You saved my life."

Bones cuts in, "Uhura and I had something to do with it too, you know."

She looks over at him, "And I will love you for it." She looks back at Spock.

"You saved my life, Captain. And the lives—"

She cuts him off, "Spock just—" she pauses for a moment, "Thank you."

"You are welcome, Ari."

Spock turns and walks out of the room leaving her alone with Bones, "I'm sorry."

He looks down at her, "What for?"

"For making you worry." She grabs onto his hand, and pulls herself up slowly.

"Ari, don't move so soon." He holds onto her as she sits up.

"Calm down, I'm not going to-" She cuts herself off, "Go anywhere. I just wanted a hug from the man I'm very much in love with."

He bends slightly and she wraps her arms around his neck hugging him close, her face nuzzling into his neck.

"I thought I was never going to see you again." Bones whispers against her ear.

She smiles and holds him tighter, "Leave you alone? Then who would be a pain in your ass?"

"Spock certainly does the job."

"That goes for the two of us." She smiles as she sits there for a while with him.

_A year later…_

Aria stands on at the podium and looks at the vast amount of people sitting before her, as she begins to speak, "There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us. But that's not who we are. We are here today to rechristen the USS Enterprise and to honor those who lost their lives nearly one year ago. When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship he had me recite the Captain's Oath, words I didn't appreciate at the time. Now I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were, and who we must be again. And those words? Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her five year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Aria walks onto the bridge of the Enterprise, "Captain on the bridge." She looks over at Chekov and smiles.

She looks over and walks to the chair seeing Sulu sitting in it, "It's hard to get out of it once you've had a taste, isn't that right, Mr. Sulu?"

He stands up from the chair as she walks around it, " "Captain" does have a nice ring to it. Chair's all yours, ma'am."

She hits the comm button on her chair, "Mr. Scott. How's our core?"

_"Purring like a kitten, Captain. She's ready for a long journey."_

"Excellent." She walks away from the chair and over to Bones, who doesn't look too impressed or happy, "Come on, Bones!" she hit's his shoulder, "It's gonna be fun."

He looks down at her, "Five years in space. God help me."

"You'll live, remember you've got me!" she kisses him quickly before walking over to Carol, "Dr. Marcus. I'm glad you could be part of the family."

"It's nice to have a family."

She smiles at Carol and then walks over to the chair looking out the window, "Spock!"

"Captain." He says walking over to her and standing beside her.

"Where shall we go?"

"As a mission of this duration has never been attempted," she looks over at Spock, "I defer to your good judgement, Captain." He smiles at her and then walks away from her. She stands there for a moment before finally sitting down in the Captain's chair, "Mr. Sulu, take us out."

"Aye, captain."

She watches as the blue lights slowly form around the window before shooting off into the vast open space


End file.
